So when people say that poetry is a luxury, or an option, or for the educated middle classes, or that it shouldn't be read in school because it is irrelevant , or any of the strange and stupid things that are said about poetry and its place in our lives, I suspect the people doing the saying have had it pretty easy. A tough life needs needs a tough language - and that is what poetry is. That is what literature offers - a language powerful enough to say how it is. It isn't a hiding place. It is a finding place. - Jeanette WintersonThat's from Jeanette Winterson's excellent biography: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
It only took about 2 pages for me to be hooked, and to remind what a great voice she has, and I need toread more of her fiction.
