Writing for the Christian Science periodicals, whether in poetry or prose, is a sharing and loving activity. Its purpose is to feed and nourish, enlighten and protect. The monthly and weekly magazines launched by Mary Baker Eddy are thus described in her writings: "The first was The Christian Science Journal, designed to put on record the divine Science of Truth; the second I entitled Sentinel, intended to hold guard over Truth, Life, and Love." ^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353;}

From the start, quality was called for in these periodicals, and it is today. Quality is emphasized in writing and in editing, in stock and in printing, in format. The poems, as well as the prose, are effective when they are spiritually motivated and well constructed. But there is something demanded of them beyond what is expected of verse in purely literary magazines. Their purpose is to heal.

The editors and the contributors have embarked on a joint effort to produce quality magazines of permanent value. The writers are members of The Mother Church, praying daily for its activities. If their ideas are unselfed and substantial, and their work consecrated, there is no telling how much their work will inspire and heal.

Is not the Christian Science poem, then, worth working over? No thoughtful student would offer to sing a solo or play the organ at a church service without preparatory study and practice. The musician, like the painter or sculptor, expects to undergo certain disciplines. Poetry, from the beginning, has ranked as one of the fine arts. Those gifted in that direction have usually assumed the responsibility of learning techniques. Walt Whitman said, in his preface to Leaves of Grass, "Exact science and its practical movements are no checks on the greatest poet, but always his encouragement and support."

A noted museum curator once said to me, apropos of discipline in artistic expression, "If the spark of genius is so small that discipline destroys it, he [the would-be artist] had better forget about it."

Some excellent poems appear deceptively easy because the author has labored long to perfect expression, to prune his lines, to shear off verbosity and redundancy. The Christian Scientist prays for guidance. He cares about the reader, about what he shares with him. The reader is his guest. He will not offer him a warmed-over meal, an imitation of someone else's verse. He tries to be interesting, original, enjoyable.

Is not the metaphysical poem worth the discipline the art form requires? Isn't it worth the search for the best terms, for fresh phrases that lend it distinction? Clarity does not mean the stale or trite, the hackneyed, the overfamiliar. Those are more likely to repel the reader than to register an impression on him. A new twist, a fresh use of words, will often engage his attention and help to awake in him a spiritual response.

Still, originality doesn't need to involve weird or unnatural phrasing. We are all, in a sense, derivative. Shakespeare's lines owe a constant debt to earlier works, the Greek and Roman writers, Middle English authors, biblical narrative.

The Bible contains a great deal of poetry, which comes to us with tremendous impact even in translation—giving remarkable evidence of the force of its ideas. It offers the student of poetry a rich library, packed with inimitable examples of metaphor and simile.

The energetic and industrious poet delves into the meanings of words, penetrates to their very roots, and comes up with exciting, original terms. He develops style. Diction is important. But the unintelligent echo, the mere cliché, indicates a lazy attitude.

The French painter Degas used to try to write sonnets. When he complained to his close friend Mallarmé, the poet, "I just cannot understand it. My poem won't come out, yet I am full of excellent ideas," Mallarme replied, "My dear Degas, poetry is not written with ideas; it is written with words." ^{George H. W. Rylands, Words and Poetry (New York: Payson and Clarke, 1928), p. xi;}

Since poetry from earliest times was intended for the ear rather than the eye, a good test for an author is to read his lines aloud and listen.

No publishing society can take on the responsibility of educating would-be poets. Not everyone has the same kind of talent. Not everyone is required to produce paintings or sculpture or musical compositions, or poems. As St. Paul said, "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." ^{I Cor. 12:4;} Those who have some experience in the art of writing poetry meet their own kind of challenge in writing for the Christian Science periodicals. At one time a sentence in Mrs. Eddy's works bothered me, especially when I felt in an art-conscious mood, but I gradually learned its protective nature. Speaking of music in The Mother Church our Leader writes, "Art must not prevail over Science." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 107;}

The rejected author will learn either that poetry is not his forte or that he still has work to do on his manuscript. Sometimes a rejection is due to an oversupply on a particular subject. The writer who feels he has something special to say in verse, yet meets with rejection, can improve his work by study and practice. Public libraries are always willing to produce source material, volumes of poetry, and works on prosody. Book publishers, too, are glad to supply lists.

The word "poet" has a Greek root meaning "maker." The poet "makes" a poem just as the artist makes a painting. He selects and discards, shapes, designs. The Christly approach, the willingness to say, "I can of mine own self do nothing," ^{John 5:30;} will often lead to an inspired and acceptable revision.

Poetry knows no race, no class division. It is not just for the erudite or the elite.

Metaphysical poetry has a great opportunity to deal with topics of the day. Homer, Virgil, Chaucer, Shakespeare, all show their awareness of problems facing mankind in their times. The poetry of Christian Science should not be confined to personal reactions, abstract generalities, or platitudes. Mrs. Eddy kept abreast of her time and, in a spiritual sense, ahead of it. She caught up the concept of atomic action and translated it into spiritual terms long before it became familiar in today's frame of reference. ^{See Mis., p. 190;}

In The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, Mrs. Eddy writes: "Pliny gives the following description of the character of true greatness: 'Doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read; and rendering the world happier and better for having lived in it.'" ^{Miscellany, p. 150.}

Ideas, as well as actions, can be a gift to the world, and the Christian Scientist who is also a poet will find a way to share. A four-year-old student of my acquaintance, in a momentarily baffling situation, said, "I'll ask God. She'll show me." The Father-Mother always does.

Be filled with the Spirit;
speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
giving thanks always for all things unto God.

Ephesians 5:18-20