“How To Be a Poet” is a poem by Wendell Berry. The poem is supposed to be about reminding himself how to be a poet, but when you really read into it you find it’s really about being an apt human being. He speaks about a few abilities which human beings can have which in abundance can make you a successful person. Being a skilled reader, and obtaining a lot of knowledge, will be extremely beneficial and helpful in becoming a successful person. Also, Berry speaks about how rare certain key qualities can be, specifically he says, “You must depend upon / affection, reading, knowledge, / skill―more of each / than you have―inspiration, / work, growing older, patience.” Things like inspiration, and patience are very difficult things to sustain, and so while they are very useful in becoming successful, they are a lot more impractical to continuously rely on.
The second stanza, I believe, speaks a lot about people’s relationships with really anything. Berry writes, “There are no unsacred places; / there are only sacred places / and desecrated places.” This, to me, speaks to that fact that no relationship is completely ruined, and it can always be salvaged. Hence the no unsacred places line, I understand it as no matter what you said or did there is always a possibility to turn over a new leaf. I also believe this can definitely relate to our current situation because there is a lot of division in the world at the moment and we could all benefit from turning over a new leaf. Instead of thinking of something as unsacred, think of it as desecrated and it simply must be righted, not forgotten and left alone. If we all believe in this idea, which in simpler terms really means to not hold grudges, we’d be much happier as a whole society and much more united rather than divided.
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