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My new strategy is this: channel our inner Christian Wiman (inspiration for this diatribe a couple years back by yours truly), who wrote such a moving letter for Poetry's "subscribe now" campaign that I nearly choked on my morning coffee. "Dear Reader," he wrote:
These days it can seem that life consists mostly of being overwhelmed by life. The whirlwind of information, the economic shocks, the constant pressures on our time and minds--amid all this, it can become easy to ignore the call of our inner lives; so easy, in fact, that we hardly notice when that call goes quiet. The paradox is that when you stop engaging with your deepest being, you stop fully engaging with the world.
Poetry can be an antitode to this. It can cut through all the distraction and busyness, can help you seize your life and be more completely in it. Indeed, with its compression, concision, and intensity, poetry may be one of the best tonics for our times.
--from Christian Wiman's "subscribe to Poetry" letter.
--aed
