Why Be an Essayist

Here's the beginning of Wendell Barry's poem "VII," which I think is really lovely. The poem appeared in The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor January 7 (and was pointed out to me by my lovely colleague Cheryl):

VII

by Wendell Berry

I would not have been a poet
except that I have been in love
alive in this mortal world,
or an essayist except that I
have been bewildered and afraid,
or a storyteller had I not heard
stories passing to me through the air,
or a writer at all except
I have been wakeful at night
and words have come to me
out of their deep caves
needing to be remembered.



category: quotations