New worlds: Poetry as trimtab

Hello Hedge School,<br/><br/>Language is a beautiful technology. <br/><br/>A bridge between inner experiences. Words, utterances that vibrate in our ears reach from my world to yours. A meeting place for meaning and collective understanding. Personally, I see the hand selection of words as bouquets of flowers in tribute to the beauty we see in the world. <br/><br/>But words can defeat us. <br/><br/>Can be trapdoors. Shackles that limit the unlimited that flows in abundance from within.<br/><br/>Either way, language is transformative.<br/><br/>A power for good or evil.<br/><br/>I've loved reading and writing for as long as I can remember. Books took me to faraway lands. Paper and pencils brought those lands into the world as a travel destination for others. <br/><br/>Writing was a freedom to dance with language. <br/><br/>I could say that my life changed when I found poetry but that would be a lie. See poetry found me. Sitting on a mountain spot during a vision quest, poetry found me amongst the dirt and stillness. Amongst the fear of darkness and beauty of moments. When I came down from the mountain, words starting singing through me. Whenever I stilled myself, a deluge of words channelled through my fingers. The more I stilled, the clearer the signal. <br/><br/>Poetry became the canvas language danced on. <br/><br/>Since then, I have written hundreds of poems, published a book of poems and have another book on its way. I came out as a poet, claiming the title initially with trepidation. Some friends laughed at the direction change. Others patted me on the back for the courage to sing. <br/><br/>And so I sit in service to language, with poetry as my instrument. <br/><br/>And I look to use those words to stop people in their tracks.<br/><br/>I don't get poetry.<br/><br/>This is a standard line when it comes to poetry. In fact, it's one of the reasons I love poetry so much. Dissonance is woven in, demanding you stop and listen. Poetry is not meant to be trapped. <br/><br/>To be known. <br/><br/>To be gathered for s