Ray Bradbury says you should do this every day
if you want to set your eyes free

What keeps me reading Ray Bradbury's short stories is not so much his far-flung plots but rather his quasi-poetic prose. Though, being a sci-fi writer, it is sometimes hard to tell what he meant to be taken as metaphor and what was an actual fantastical element in the imaginative worlds he created on his electric typewriter.

Now, it's no wonder Bradbury's writings have such a poetic tinge, because in his book, Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You, he advises:

“Read poetry every day of your life. Poetry is good because it flexes muscles you don’t use often enough."

I first read those words about twenty years ago. They put me on the road less travelled of reading a poem a day.

"Poetry expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition," explains Bradbury. "It keeps you aware of your nose, your eye, your ear, your tongue, your hand."

Poetry saves you from your head and gives you the guts to embrace life as it is. This is why I start each day not with the newspaper, not with my inbox, not with a Facebook feed but usually with a poem.

Even better than Bradbury's arguments for why we need poetry, was his take on which poems you should read:

"What poetry? Any poetry that makes your hair stand up along your arms. Don’t force yourself too hard. Take it easy. Over the years you may catch up to, move even with, and pass T. S. Eliot on your way to other pastures. You say you don’t understand Dylan Thomas? Yes, but your ganglion does, and your secret wits, and all your unborn children. Read him, as you can read a horse with your eyes, set free and charging over an endless green meadow on a windy day.”

If you're looking for poetry that's not "too hard" but still sends you "charging over an endless green meadow on a windy day" I highly recommend Pamela Gerrand's new book of poetry, Wild Echo, wherein she identifies as a "practical poet" saying:

"If we are too much in heaven, we are no earthly good. The practical poet is both moonlight and mercy; she cuts her words with sage and thyme, sings kindness into the broth."

Bradbury in his famous novel, Fahrenheit 451, depicts a society where all books, and especially books of poetry, are burned. That's how much of a threat metaphors which flex the senses are to the tyrants of the world. Poetry helps us break through the fear of living.

You can start your day with the latest Tweets and texts or you can start it with "moonlight and mercy."

Wild Echo is available only through Pamela Gerrand's website. You can buy copies for yourself and as gifts for friends and families at this link:

https://pamelajanegerrand.com/product/wild-echo-poetry-book/ 

Your ganglion will thank you for it.

— John C.A. Manley

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/