"The Necessity to Speak" Sam Hamill

In Hamill’s narrative it states “a true poet is often faced with the difficult task of telling people what they already know and do not want to hear”. People know that there is abuse and violence going on every second of every day, but does anyone do anything about it? Because everyone is silent, no one knows. No one knows how to feel emotions and when they do feel emotions they do not know what to do with them. Because everyone is silent the world goes on to be violent. We grow up hearing the horror stories and watching the movies, but does anyone teach us what to do about it in real life? How to feel about it when it happens to your best friend? What if it happens to you? Do you know who to go to, or how to feel? The information about the real world shouldn’t be a secret, or unspoken. It is real, and everyone a should know of it. Just because you can’t change the world doesn’t mean you can’t change a life, even your own life.
I think Hamill wants to get the point across that poets write about everyday life good or bad, weather you want to hear it or not. Poets speak the truth threw their own eyes, experiences, and beliefs. He states that he is not the “I” in the poem; anyone can be the “I”. You can perceive yourself as the “I”, or the author or the little girl down the street. Hamill relates to “Poetry of Witness” poems because, weather those poems are about the authors or not they get you to think about what is going on in the world and put yourself as the “I”. When you read those poems you have sympathy, gilt, discomfort, maybe regret. Hamill wants us to feel those things and relate to poetry, take it in and learn from it. It is necessary to speak and to know. Hamill teaches us through his poetry.

Here is a link to a short poem found and want to share with you.
http://www.poetseers.org/themes/poems_on_violence/



Video from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2lZsmrFT4g