Not a Dream: the Murmur of Poetry in Catastrophic Times
Abstract
This article, a brief meditation on poetry in end times, proposes that poetry is the often unwitting murmur of intense grief and distress. Our response to a coming catastrophe on a planetary scale is, paradoxically, intensely personal, and based in denial. As part of this response – this denial – there will be a growing murmur of sublime, inspired and beautiful poetry. It cannot be political, for poetry will recognise there is no one to truly speak to about these matters, and this will bring flashes of a wild intensity to its sounds.
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