What scares most people about poetry is abstraction. The most common public misconception is that poetry is written in obscure language about an obscure subject to convey esoteric ideas that will never be grasped by regular people. Great poetry does the opposite. Please don't let me leave you with the idea that poetry is just a feel-good exercise that might come in handy in a crisis. Poetry is revolutionary.
Poetry is electric.
I don't pretend to know the circumstances behind those two women's lives, but historically women, especially rural women, have been denied the educational privileges of men. Historically, women have been discouraged from finding their voices, expressing themselves in the classroom, speaking up anywhere, lest they appear smarter than men. It wasn't until the latter half of the twentieth century that women, people of color, people of various sexual orientations and the disabled were finally allowed to find their voices. In poetry or elsewhere. Poetry has become a road to self-actualization for many individuals, many groups.