Inconvenient Poetry

I grew up in Italy and in Italian there is an expression “che poesia” used to describe experiences or things of particular beauty and harmony. Such expression characterises something that can’t be described otherwise and that instills awe, peace, joy…

I have always thought we are all poets. We all have the capacity to create by reconnecting to the rhythm of our heart, to the rhythm of life. However, such idea of poetry and poets is inconvenient as it calls for responsibility from all of us an not just a few. Such poetry becomes the language (not necessarily written language) that connects us as all humans. Like at the origin of human history around the campfire where we sang at the rhythm of our hearts’ desires to make sense of our lived experience.

Such poetry is also inconvenient because "Lyric poems, even when based on narratives, do not resemble stories. All stories are about battles, of one kind or another, which end in victory or defeat. Poems, regardless of any outcome, cross the battlefields, tending the wounded" ~ John Berger

It is that crossing that creates unity. It is that tending that creates healing. It is that regardless that creates harmony. And creating, we know, is more difficult than complaining. It is more convenient to complain about the lack of unity or harmony than creating a space for them to exist. It is more convenient to create a ROI and a business case for unit and harmony than create unit and harmony.

One of the defining trends of our times is convenience. Everything seems to be designed and engineered to "make life more convenient". Have we become the “1 convenient click” species?

Is it really what’s life is all about?

Is it really what we are here for: extract convenience from life?

Is it really what we reduce human experience to?

When our ultimate goal is convenience and only convenience for the sake of it, we fail to create anew which is the core essence/meaning of poetry. Poiesis (poetry from Ancient Greek) is "the activity in which a person brings something into being that did not exist before." Poiesis is etymologically derived from the ancient Greek term ποιεῖν, which means "to make". (Wikipedia) Interestingly enough (the scientist in me loves it) the word is also used in the biological term hematopoiesis, the formation of blood cells.

Poetry is the warm blood flowing in our veins that keeps us alive. It is the river where we exchange vital air and nourishment. To be a poet, in the true sense, is to care enough to create that nourishment when it would be more convenient to complain or settle for the status quo.

To be a poet is to inconveniently meet and relate with the world as it is not as we expect it to be.

To be a poet is to open our eyes to pay attention to the small, infinitely small, that goes unnoticed, that becomes invisible when denied.

To be a poet is to re-write the convenient narratives that separates us in heroes and victims, winners and losers, saints and devils, holy and mundane…

To be a poet is to create new wor(l)ds and not simply new (dress)-codes for old wor(l)ds.

To be a poet is to give life to what is invisible and not to exploit life.

To be a poet is ___________ (fill in the blank).

But, if it’s true that we are all poets (I believe so) the real question is why we choose convenience over poetry?

It requires care, choice, commitment to re-name convenience in “coming together in harmony”… It requires leadership (or as I call it Humanship) to meet in poetry. An invocation to inconvenient poetry meeting business.

Leader

You will never know till you stand up

There is enough space within you

Space to contain the multitudes

Stand up

Speak up

Say no

No to fragmentation

No to moving faster

Slow down

Know your multitudes

Learn what moves inside and outside them

Turn towards the truth

Stand up

Speak up

The Whisper said

I want to talk business in rhyme

This is why, tired of hearing about leadership and work in the form of narratives of a battlefield, I wrote The Poetry of Leadership. Intentionally and inconveniently a book with no answers or “how to” recipe to be a leader but, an invitation to practice our humanity and re-awaken our inner wisdom. It may (or may not) benefit business but this is not a convenient case for poetry in business but a prayer (yes inconveniently so!) to remember what makes us alive…Our art…Or as I call it heart.

If you’re interested in learning more about RNEWB services and would like to discuss any consultancy, workshops, and talks, drop us a line at fateme@rnewb.com.

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