The simple way to arrive at an appreciation of poetry is to read it - then to read it again.

Desmond Flower, The Pursuit Of Poetry (1939)

Lock down
Locked in
Mixed emotions spilling over

Fear of the unknown
Of family safety
Rushing over in tsunami waves

Floundering
Crying
Drowning in this tide of uncertainty

Through the darkness
A life line
Messages of hope and caring

Reaching out
Into homes
Relationships forged in crisis

Love and laughter
Shared with all
A nation brought together

The difference between genuine poetry and
the poetry of Dryden, Pope, and all their
school, is briefly this: their poetry is
conceived and composed in their wits,
genuine poetry is conceived and composed
in the soul.

Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism (1865)

It is fatal to decide, intellectually, what good poetry is because you are then in honour bound to try to write it, instead of the poems
that only you can write.

Philip Larkin, Poets of the 1950s (Ed. D. J. Enright, 1955)

Poetry is simply the most beautiful,
impressive, and widely effective mode of saying things, and hence its importance.

Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism (1865)

That first kiss...

Caress of lips touching
Warmth of breaths mingling
Sweetness of tongues tasting

Ignited a fire within
That would burn for all eternity