İsmet Özel - What Is Poetry?
"Let's imagine two friends descending a large staircase. One of them, for some reason—whether it's a sprained ankle or maybe they've put a banana peel there—slips and falls down the stairs, rolling over. He lies motionless where he is. His friend, naturally frightened, anxious, and excited, rushes to his side, lifts him up by the shoulders, and says, 'Say something! Say something!' And the fallen friend opens his eyes and says something! That's poetry, that's what poetry is! It doesn't matter what he says. But because he heard the command to 'say something,' he says something. That thing he says shows his own vitality and also brings comfort to his friend's heart. That's what poetry is! And nothing else. But as I said, for poetry to be born, we need to descend a staircase, we need to have a friend with us, and so on..."
Ismet Özel