Contemplating the need for Poetry in Life

"Mundaneness is, I believe, part of the curse of Genesis 3. The earth no longer yields its bounty without toilsome labor and much frustration. Our routines make us more efficient, as we attempt to scratch out some form of survival in this cursed environment, but those same routines can make us more like cogs in a machine less like humans. Life becomes a series of tasks, with few uninterrupted moments to pause, to reflect, to appreciate. Verse is a common-grace gift that enables us, through the fog of images and sounds, to again see ourselves and others as bearers of the image of God. When the poet stares at that which the rest of us merely glance at, he invites us to take a longer look along with him. It is precisely this longer look that is necessary to cultivate a sensibility for the significant."

~ T.David Gordon