What is the point of poetry?

What is the point of poetry?

What is the point of poetry?

Poems don't stop war
people are still fighting

they don't cure diseases
cancer and HIV aren't solved

they don't stop time
it is always going on

they don't let us live forever
we're getting older day by day

they don't feed the starving
so many are out there hungry

they don't provide shelter
so many are out there without shelter

they don't teach how to
balance a checkbook
pay the mortgage
get insurance
save up for retirement
create a college fund

and what about the other pinnacles of life?
getting married, having kids, grandkids  -
I have to figure that out for myself

what can poems do
other than observe
just as you or I?

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