Artist Statement
Shortly before he died, Michael had gathered materials for a new website. It was his intention to replace a traditional “Artist Statement” with several of his poems about poetry. Here is the Ars Poetica of Michael S. Glaser:
Ars Poetica
(with gratitude to the participants, Bread for the Journey, 2015)
Q: What is a Poem?
Answer: Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
A piece of writing that usually has figurative language and that is written in separate lines that often have a repeated rhythm and sometimes rhyme
Answer: Poetry. org:
Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ from ordinary prose.
Answer: Wikipedia:
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaïc ostensible meaning.
Or:
A poem cracks open the shell of wonder.
It is an offering, a gift, a garden of words,
a sacrament that travels through the mind and heart
into the world.
A poem is a meditation on the complexity of life.
It is a bearer of light that invites our whole being
to stay awake.
A poem is a map for exploration
that lightens the way with questions
we hadn’t known how to ask.
A poem is a practice of gratitude and grace,
a cry yearning to be heard, a stepping stone
on the way to communal tears and laughter.
A poem is a knock at the door
that praises and provokes, delights and confounds.
It urges us to show up.
A poem is a song in the midst of soundbites,
a stop sign that invites us to remember who we are.
Shortly before he died, Michael had gathered materials for a new website. It was his intention to replace a traditional “Artist Statement” with several of his poems about poetry. Here is the Ars Poetica of Michael S. Glaser:
Ars Poetica
(with gratitude to the participants, Bread for the Journey, 2015)
Q: What is a Poem?
Answer: Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
A piece of writing that usually has figurative language and that is written in separate lines that often have a repeated rhythm and sometimes rhyme
Answer: Poetry. org:
Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ from ordinary prose.
Answer: Wikipedia:
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaïc ostensible meaning.
Or:
A poem cracks open the shell of wonder.
It is an offering, a gift, a garden of words,
a sacrament that travels through the mind and heart
into the world.
A poem is a meditation on the complexity of life.
It is a bearer of light that invites our whole being
to stay awake.
A poem is a map for exploration
that lightens the way with questions
we hadn’t known how to ask.
A poem is a practice of gratitude and grace,
a cry yearning to be heard, a stepping stone
on the way to communal tears and laughter.
A poem is a knock at the door
that praises and provokes, delights and confounds.
It urges us to show up.
A poem is a song in the midst of soundbites,
a stop sign that invites us to remember who we are.
Why I Write
Ars Poetica M76
I write to witness what otherwise
I would not see.
I write to acknowledge
what I have failed to understand
to be fully alone and fully me.
I write in hopes of fanning the flames
of my confusion into a beam of light
I write to help me see what I’ve become
and who I still might be.
A Praise Poem
Praise be the poems that hold space
for reflection
as when I stop by a flowing river
or listen to the quiet of a winter woods
and notice how the bare branches
challenge the story
I so often tell myself
about Nature’s beauty
how the imperfection
of their bare singular journey
toward the light is as complicated
as most everything that grows.
All poems on this page © Estate of Michael S. Glaser.
Please do not use without permission.
© 2026