John Keene's 'Beatitude': A Poetic Antidote to Modern Despair

3 hours ago7 min read

In an era of overwhelming noise and fracture, we instinctively seek anchors—a familiar song that cuts through the static, offering a moment of clarity. Poetry occupies this vital space, and John Keene’s “Beatitude” emerges as a defining work for our times: a lyrical spell against despair that functions as both a private meditation and a public declaration.Keene, a writer renowned for his narrative innovation and political insight, crafts not a solution but a practice—a method of blessing “what is simply for being” and thanking “everything for its unbidden everythingness. ” This radical, attentive gratitude becomes an act of resistance in an age of hardened certainties.The poem’s quiet, liturgical repetition contains a roaring demand for a new way of being, inviting us to become more “tenderly entire” by truly seeing the world’s “variousness. ” Its power lies in this duality, echoing the tradition of spiritually charged art from blues to protest folk, where beauty confronts brutality without flinching.For readers adrift in global crises and daily discord, “Beatitude” offers a grounding discipline. It provides no easy fixes but instead a way to stand within the breaking—to bless, to thank, and in doing so, to forge a sturdier, more compassionate wholeness.Ultimately, Keene reminds us that the most potent aid often arrives not as an answer, but as a transformed perspective. “Beatitude” reframes the struggle itself, asserting that mindful, grateful attention is a revolutionary and healing force—a timeless track for the soul, waiting to be replayed.

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#John Keene

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