Feb 2020
THE POEM IS ALWAYS THE PRIZE
Beware of winning prizes, because
prizes can pull you away from your
center, the locus of worth. Poetry is
the countervailing force to falsehood.
Poetry is the path to truth and away
from pretension and fabrication. Notice
I did not write perfection, for truth is
never perfect, but it is always honest,
and honesty, not perfection, is what
humanity always needs. Sappho, Whitman,
Dickinson, and Blake--none ever won a
prize, but their poetry will always offer
readers eternal beauty. Poets are more
precious than politicians and profiteers,
because the poem is always the prize.
Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks
Beware of winning prizes, because
prizes can pull you away from your
center, the locus of worth. Poetry is
the countervailing force to falsehood.
Poetry is the path to truth and away
from pretension and fabrication. Notice
I did not write perfection, for truth is
never perfect, but it is always honest,
and honesty, not perfection, is what
humanity always needs. Sappho, Whitman,
Dickinson, and Blake--none ever won a
prize, but their poetry will always offer
readers eternal beauty. Poets are more
precious than politicians and profiteers,
because the poem is always the prize.
Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks
A graduate of Andover and Columbia College, Columbia University, Tod Howard Hawks has been a poet and human-rights advocate his entire adult life. He recently finished his novel, A CHILD FOR AMARANTH.
