This breaking through of otherness...

This breaking through of otherness

is called love in relationships

in science is called evidence

and in language and narrative is called poetry.

In “Poetic Diction,” Owen Barfield observes 

the narrowing of meaning in modern language, 

influenced as it is by the growth of scientific thought. 

He argues languages earlier in their evolution, 

are less scientifically precise 

and more naturally poetic. 

The poet's task then is 

something like re-enchantment, 

re-creating those slivers of meaning 

lost as words become more technical. 

And meaning, as I imagine it, 

comes to distinguish and connect

experiences and persons and things. 

The poetic then is not reducible 

to what we call emotional or spiritual

because we must speak about real things 

if we want to mean anything at all

and because we are embodied beings. 

Thus, poetry challenges and renews 

our understanding of the world 

by allowing the universe to break in on and rearrange 

the language in our minds. 

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