The Why of Art

Why do writers write
despite rejection slips?

Why do I,
though no dancer, love
to drink in music
and express it as movement?

Why spend hours
considering the interplay
between the form
and the color, of flowers?

Because
at the core of life
there is a living beast
invisible but huge
inaudible but
those who tune their sensibilities
finely enough
can feel it breathing.
Art is the means
of that fine-tuning.

Art can be a means
of kicking your boat out
from the slow shallows
into the full, deep flood
of mid-river.

Art can sneak past
that grim man in a suit
carrying a vital message
to the Queen.