Poetry Is

My love,
You said, "Poetry is an expression of self."
Yet, your words can say, "Poetry is an expression of say."
Written in my copy are your notes.

Poets are a window into man's soul---
They draw forth wisdom from men
To know their hearts and whims.
They are a looking glass---
While you have Narcissus underlined
The narcissistic task of poetry
Is used by men like me to find treasures
Of the human heart.
To know others as well as I know myself.

My poetry is to know myself and my fallibilities.
Not to reveal my heart to itself,
But to reveal the truths I have witnessed.
My whole life I have wandered the world
Searching for truth---
I have written down every truth I can find.
I am uninterested in my heart revealing itself---
I want to see, rather, the external world in my poetry.
I want to see it in the conflict,
In my characters,
Do derive the truth.

I have come close to perfecting a system for discovering truth.
It is found in the Logos---
As your words read in truth,
"Poetry is the expression of say."
That is the highest form of poetry.
For if poetry is an expression of the self,
Then it is worthless,
But if poetry expresses "Say"
Then it is truly of the noblest truths
That it finds the truth
And expresses it with perfection.

Good poetry is not internal.
It is external.
Good poetry is not selfish.
It is a purging of selfishness.
It is done for the soul purpose
Of finding, and preserving,
The truth.
So it is not forgotten.
So ethos and pathos and logos
Do not pass away,
And men can understand the past;
And thereby, form a better future.

Yes, the Bible has all revelation
But expression of the truth
In any source it comes
Is valuable.
For I use poetry to know.
Not to know myself.