Poetry Is Not a Luxury by Audre Lorde

Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital
necessity of our existence. It forms
the quality of the light within
which we predicate our hopes and
dreams toward survival and
change, first made into language,
then into idea, then into more
tangible action. Poetry is the way
we help give name to the
nameless so it can be thought. The
farthest horizons of our hopes and
fears are cobbled by our poems,
carved from the rock experiences
of our daily lives.

—Audre Lorde