Heidegger asked the question
for which I've yet
to find an answer
although it concerns me
and maybe you - reader - as well
what use are poets
and their works
in catastrophic times
which even if we set aside
wars and pandemics
is still an apt description
of our age
true this is not
our plante's first extinction
only the first
we've brought about ourselves
and are now privileged
to witness close at hand
perhaps that witnessing
is some part of the answer
to the question about poets
and their work
though for my part
I prefer to think of poetry
less as witnessing than exploration
and as another poet put it
old men should be explorers
with any luck I'll be one
to the end