https://poems.com/features/what-sparks-poetry/eric-pankey-on-what-poetry-changes/
EXTRACT
In a 1987 interview that appeared in the Partisan Review, the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert said, “It is vanity to think that one can influence the course of history by writing poetry. It is not the barometer that changes the weather.” With that metaphor, we are asked to see poetry as a gauge, a measure, a tool, a way of understanding the nature of phenomenon. When I say poetry changed the way I see the world I mean it taught me to be attentive, to be curious, to be empathic, to understand both the power and danger of language itself. It is a lens that allows one to see the microscopic and a distant star nursery. The poem, “Five Men,” gives us an insight into the minds of those about to be killed as well as insight into the minds of those leveling their guns as executioners. The poet wonders in “dead earnest” what poetry might offer in the face of horror and trauma. What does it offer? What might it offer?
How my heart sings 