Poets must return to the forefront of modern culture: wisdom, insight, and the reemergence of poetry.

Vision: Art is more than an aesthetic pursuit—it is a bridge to the deeper realms of human understanding, where emotion and wisdom intertwine. At its core, creativity grants us access to the most profound aspects of our minds, those spaces where empathy flourishes and meaning emerges. The act of making, of bringing something into existence, is the purest expression of our humanity. It is here, in the act of creation, that we transcend the ordinary and touch something universal. Art captures the undercurrents of feeling, distills them into form, and aligns them with insight, offering not just beauty but a profound way of seeing the world. A return to making things is the way out of the miasma of modern life. In all balanced and functional societies, the poet has been entrusted with the role of seer—the one who perceives, interprets, and illuminates the world for others. To restore this role is to reclaim wisdom, vision, and the essential place of art in shaping a more harmonious society. Maryama Antoine, the creator and host of Poet on Song, is an American poet, novelist, and English literature teacher. Originally from New York City, she has lived in Paris for over 20 years. A finalist for the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships, selections from her two books of poetry have been featured on WQXR, New York City’s classical music station, and published in Spark Magazine, Éditions sans Plumes, Dotting the Eye, Spectrum, and elsewhere. Her fiction explore the ways in which displacement, migration, and immigration have shaped—and continue to reshape—cultures.