Istanbul / Poetry

It's a bit of a strange thing when the Statcounter informs you that "Istanbul" came to read your post on "Luther on the Turks."

All the unrest in the Middle East including in Turkey distresses me greatly as the spill-over into other countries continues.  Even though people such as Reza Aslan promote a general type of "spirituality" which makes Islam and Christianity into something that does not touch upon "reality", the texts are pretty clear about how "real" they claim to be, and most people don't miss the message and continue to fail to live in a metaphorical land.

I thought this article about poetry was also interesting, in connection.  Poetry is powerful because it relates to what we consider "real".  You cannot get away from historicity, try as you may.  http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/09/poetry-isnt-as-useless-as-a-lot-of-poets-say-it-is/279539/?utm_source=Poetry+Sept+18%2C+2013