Happy World Poetry Day!

How does poetry fit with Talent Development? We're just trying to help people understand what they do and how to do it, right?

Ursula LeGuin said: 

“Science describes accurately from outside, poetry describes accurately from inside. Science explicates, poetry implicates. Both celebrate what they describe.”

And Alice Osborn has this take:

"Poetry is so important because it helps us understand and appreciate the world around us. Poetry’s strength lies in its ability to shed a 'sideways' light on the world, so the truth sneaks up on you. No question about it. Poetry teaches us how to live. Poetry is like the Windex on a grubby car window—it bares open the vulnerabilities of human beings so we can all relate to each other a little better."

Isn't that some of what we do in talent development? --create opportunities "so we can all relate to each other a little better"? I love the idea of providing a "sideways light"--Zoom has certainly taught us a couple things about lighting!--and cleaning off the windows we look through to see who is there and what they're going through.

Inclusion. Sometimes it's hard to come at straight on--it's hard to see the exclusion head-on, but with that sideways light and with the inside-out explanation of poetry, we can see and better understand what is right in front of us.

This video got me thinking about inclusion this morning. Imagine not being able to hear the words--so not being able to experience them--their fullness, specificity, vagary, meaning, resonance, musicality. How can we recreate the true experience without just a simple translation? The experience of spoken-word poetry is so much more than just the words--what about what you do in Talent Development? Is it just the words that can easily be translated to people with different backgrounds, cultures, or languages? How else can we provide support to recreate the experience?