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Good Morning. Last night the TS Eliot prize was awarded to Peter Gizzi, an American poet, for his book Fierce Elegy judged to be the best collection of new poetry published in the UK and Ireland. A sold-out crowd at the Royal Festival Hall heard the shortlisted poets read on Sunday night: another gathered last night for the award. That's over three thousand paying punters from all over the country on two of the most bitterly cold nights of the year. Why all the fuss?

There are plenty of reasons to say poetry is ‘a Good Thing’, in capital letters. Poetry in its many languages carries our history as human people: prayers and regrets, love and politics. It forms a good portion of the Christian Bible, not least the Psalms and the certificate-18 parts of the Song of Solomon. And for a Methodist like me poetry regularly brings a whole church to its feet for the great Wesley hymns like ‘Love divine all loves excelling’.

But I’m interested in why poetry is a good thing TODAY, right now.

One thing the shortlisted poets for the TS Eliot prize shared this year is attention to the ordinary. That is, they all take small objects, rituals, and unseen parts of life seriously: they notice the working out in these of love, or anger, or injustice.

Having listened to the way these poets look at the world, I look at another grey-rubbled picture from Gaza and spot a woman’s dressy blouse. I imagine the party for which she bought it. I look at the aerial view of Altadena, burnt out in Los Angeles, and see one living tree; I notice a torn NHS envelope left on a chair in the waiting room of my local A and E and wonder how long the person who opened it sat there, and whether that letter had good news.

Jesus in the Gospels paid attention to small things and gave new life, hope and power to people at the unseen edges of his community. Maybe the popularity of poetry right now is because it does something similar, in a world where it is possible to feel very small, very hopeless indeed.

Listening to the poets of the TS Eliot prize and their attention to the ordinary gives me a way to engage with the news. Their poetry keeps me from pulling back from the never ending scroll of catastrophe. While telling the truth about evil, it is an antidote to compassion fatigue. It helps me to remember hope, and joy, and to keep working for both.

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