By: Scott

Naomi Shihab Nye once said, “A person does not become a poet. We are all born poets. A person will either remain a poet, or forget that they used to be one.” This was a connection to innocence. As a child, it is certain we all had our favorite poems. (likely Seuss, but that is a-okay in my book) A child has a connection to the wonder of the world that we should all be so jealous of.


As this pertains to Terrance Hayes, our audience was treated to his metamorphosis from a painter to a poet. He said he always though himself a better painter than poet, but I contend that even as a painter Mr. Hayes had always been a poet. He was a poet of the eyes and not of the ears, and in this way had always been a poet even from inception, or as the saying goes: (I’m a poet and didn’t know it.) Now that we get to hear what Terrance Hayes has to tell us as opposed to seeing what he wanted to show us, he has opened us up to what could be called a weeping art form. Hayes let us know a very delicate piece of self today. He had never seen a painting that made him weep. Poetry however, has got the better of him. So he decided to quit painting and go back to his first love, his childhood love, as Naomi Shihab Nye would tell us:


…poetry…


I for one, am grateful.