Catharsis is in a word

I have a good friend who spent time in prison, and to give voice to his pain and his suffering to use to rap to pass the time in a situation of the extremes of both personal violence and isolation. Such modern day self expression is truly poetry and just as valid as contemporary literary forms, and of the age of the poetry of the Romantic era found in artists such as Bryson and Wordsworth.

 Such forms of self expression, even in such a format as the modern day ‘rap’ takes, with guttural beats and deep harmonies, reverberates to the dawn of language and even before.

The oral histories of Homer were recited to the beat and timing of musical instruments over banquets as entertainment, in their cadence and rhyme reflecting an age old desire of man: to express an experience, to communicate a connection that binds us as people to something higher, something all art must aspire to; to find solace in this as a testament to the fact that one was here on this earth and made an imprint in the sands of our shared history.

 Such art I am sure eased the soul of my friend in such times of suffering, and gave voice to his catharsis and healing in an environment bent on his subjugation; an environment of limits and oppression of body and mind; to be given such wings and to fly beyond these limitations is the gift poetry gave him, and isn’t that the birthright of all artists?