Daniel Leonard

No one needs poetry. It's not rocket science: physics and math have street value, plus they look great on your résumé. The civilized world would crumble without medicine or law, but poetry? Who'd miss it? How many people have even read a book of poems, ever?

The takeaway here is that poetry isn't everything. I make no grandiose claim that the poems in this PDF will change your life or awaken something deep within you. (Not that I'm not rooting for it.) But this I will affirm: I've done what I can to make these ten pages interesting and fun to read. I had a good time making them, and I hope there's something in it for you, too.

A few of the poems describe events and places in my life that might be familiar to you. The first one, "Tintinnabuli," involves a few sites in Leuven, including the Groot Begijnhof and the Stadspark. "Adirondack Park the Second Time" recounts an evening with a friend in a northeastern United States forest, while "Ever-Living Fire, in Measures" depicts a very different forest in the American South. "A Little Sound, A Little Song" recalls a moment from my childhood in Pennsylvania (poets like trees).

Other poems work less with physical things and more with ideas. "After Zeno" and "Voice" begin with quotes from philosophers, and "Accidents" borrows a concept from Thomas Aquinas. "Museum of Answers," "Seven Haiku," and "Convertible" all build their own little surreal worlds as a way of talking about ideas indirectly.

Writing poems can be a good way to organize memories of the life you've had; often you reach an insight that helps you see your life in a new way. Writing can help you to discover thoughts and feelings in yourself - and develop them, too, over time. What's most important for me is that my life, my thoughts and feelings, all of it, is part of the world I discover through words.

No one needs poetry, but heck - I like it anyway.