"The Necessity to Speak"

The reading, “The Necessity to Speak” by Sam Hamill presents ideas of how important it is to speak up for yourself. Also presenting the ideas and feelings about poetry; he states that poetry can be embarrassing because it tells the truth. That we are ashamed or afraid because we as readers don’t know what to say or think towards the content. The necessity to speak is not just speaking up for you, but writing about the experience through poetry. Hamill also says that we think poetry is all about emotions, which isn’t true. He clearly states that if you were to take away the rhythm; the words and story would still be there. Hamill at the end of the story says that we can end violence by stopping the lying and silence. In other words that if we speak up for ourselves that we can end the violence. It’s the necessity to speak; when looking at all the poems in the poems of witness tab. They were all poems about witness and having to hold the emotions they felt inside. In order to stop the violence we have to break the silence, in order to break the silence we must write. Write through a story or through poetry. Like Hamill said, “Writing is a form of human communication expressing ideas regarding the human condition.” When I read the poems and Hamill’s story I agree that poetry is full of emotion on a personal level. Also that some do find it embarrassing. When reading poetry that we can relate to it can be embarrassing to admit the fact that we have been through it. Although if we had spoken up before the second time came around there wouldn’t be a continuous story behind it. Then again if there was no story behind it then there wouldn’t be inspiration to do the same.
A Little Bit About Sam Hamill: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/733