The Old Paths Remain

<p>Poetry isn't for everyone. It's highly personal and can be too amorphous like an open-ended subjective question. Therefore good poetry should be flexible enough to be open to different interpretations while remaining evocative of powerful feelings of nostalgia sadness triumph struggle etc. In other words a poem may encapsulate a feeling or several whereas a body of poetry should express the entire continuum of human experience.</p><p>One of the first poems I wrote wasn't conventional in rhyme and function. It was written in the tenth grade. My teacher asked each of us to write a poem to read in class. I stood up and recited the following:</p><p> </p><p>One day I went to a garage sale. I realized my parents were for sale so I bought some shoes.</p><p> </p><p>Poetry has been with me ever since. I hope you enjoy my expression of the human condition. Poetry is one of the talents that separate us from the beasts.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Until we meet again.</p><p> </p><p>Christopher Feldt</p><p>Jasper Georgia</p><p>February 2024</p>