Let's keep it together kids, this is still a rehearsal

Random, late-night, procrastinating-exam-studying, wonderings . . .

Can poetry be proactive? My limited experience is that poetry is mostly a reactive art. If it can be proactive, does anyone actually care enough to read it and to do anything about it? I mean, can poetry be action inspiring instead of merely experience explaining?

On another trajectory: Is there really such thing as fiction? When we write imaginatively, we still write the truth, right? Does anyone sit down at their typewriter and say to themselves, "This is the way the world is, but I'm going to lie about it today?" Hopes are not lies, nor are visions, dreams, wishes, fears, regrets . . . They are truths projected into the future or past, or alter reality/dimension.

Misinterpretations perhaps, but lies? I mean LIES? Let's except the US Government and various media sources from this analysis . . . Or perhaps the crux of this semantic debate lies (no pun intended) in our expectations. It may very well be easier to find untruths in non-fiction than in fiction.