In the Middle Ages, the troubadour poets invented the concept of courtly love--a fantasy love, a noble passion, … - Edward Hirsch

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It was a dogma throughout most of the 20th century that quantum science only applied to subatomic matter, and we now know that not to be true. One of the major discoveries was Quantum Holography.

Edward Hirsch

In the Middle Ages, the troubadour poets invented the concept of courtly love--a fantasy love, a noble passion, which was also extra-marital and thus inevitably thwarted, illicit, adulterous. One of the medieval terms for it was amour honestus (honest love). I've always wondered why this passionate ideal--masochistic, spiritual-travelled with such wildfire throughout Europe. My poem, a ghazal, takes up the subject.

Spiritual, Passion, Europe, Middle, Ghazal, Thwarted

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Reading poetry is an adventure in renewal, a creative act, a perpetual beginning, a rebirth of wonder.

Adventure, Creative, Reading, Wonder

Language is an impure medium. Speech is public property and words are the soiled products, not of nature, but of society, which circulates and uses them for a thousand different ends.

Different, Products, Speech, Use, Words

Poetry connects us to what is deepest in ourselves. It gives us access to our own feelings, which are often shadowy, and engages us in the art of making meaning. It widens the space of our inner lives. It is a magical, mysterious, inexplicable (though not incomprehensible) event in language.

Art, Feelings, Giving, Space, Though

I was surprised recently to find a book called "Poetry in Persons" that's coming out about visit to poets to a class that Pearl London gave.

Book, Class, London, Pearls, Visit

Poetry never loses its appeal. Sometimes its audience wanes and sometimes it swells like a wave. But the essential mystery of being human is always going to engage and compel us. We're involved in a mystery. Poetry uses words to put us in touch with that mystery. We're always going to need it.

Appeal, Essentials, Needs, Poetry, Swells, Wanes