Poets from the Future

A manifesto for those that dwell about existence, and make it their dwelling

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Is there then a world

where I rule absolutely on fate?

A time I bind with chains of signs?

An existence become endless at my bidding?

The joy of writing.

The power of preserving.

Revenge of a mortal hand.

Wisława Szymborska; excerpt from The Joy of Writing, in View with a Grain of Sand

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Our existence is not merely confined to our physical dwellings. We cultivate, and actively dwell about, our existence; the reality of which we then inhabit. Existence is more than just a state of being, it is an activity. We use language in an attempt to communicate our existence, to translate it into a form that can be digested and understood by others. We can hardly hope to escape the all-embracing nature of language.

However, language also adds to our existence, for although our existence may be rooted in our own activity, it is through language that we can transmogrify activity into something a little more permanent. It allows us to reflect and to dwell on it, to actually make it existence itself. It is this dwelled upon existence that we truly inhabit.

Literature, as the tool of language, allows us to cast our own perspective on existence in a way that endures a little longer than just spoken language itself. It can liberate us from the past created by our activity, and make us a little more content with the prospects it poses for the future.

New forms of poetry and literature should not be dismissed due to lacking in their adherence to the already established forms of literary technique. Great poets and writers like Tennyson and Huxley will continue to influence future artistic works; such is the nature of activity, of existence, that is communicated by language. However, these influences cannot dictate the future of literature. Such an approach would only concede to future forms of literature making a dwelling within that which others have dwelled upon. For literature to remain authentic to existence it needs to be continuously based on activity that underlines our existence today; and in that way it can also indirectly remain relevant to the past which has inevitably influenced it, and the future that it will influence as well.

Not all of us need to be experts on literature to be able to make it a part of our lives. We can all be poets from the future - if we remember to dwell beyond our dwellings.

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