By BookBaby author Janna Lopez
I once had resistance and harsh judgment against what I believed poetry was or wasn’t. Now, it’s a standard part of my teaching and I’ve seen it work magic with so many writers.
March 21st (today!) signals the start of spring (OK, technically yesterday). It also happens to be World Poetry Day, a day that, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), “celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity. Practiced throughout history — in every culture and on every continent — poetry speaks to our common humanity and our shared values, transforming the simplest of poems into a powerful catalyst for dialogue and peace.”
Thus, World Poetry Day is meant to create awareness of this art form and broaden the human experience; to inspire people to explore reading and writing poetry.
Sounds great, but for many readers and writers, you may need to take poetry off its cultural pedestal and do away with your personal preconceptions to realize how exploring poetry can change your writing life.
Why does poetry matter?
Answering why poetry matters as a writer is one of my favorite questions to address. Do you write poems? Have you thought about writing poetry but have no idea where to begin? Do you believe only certain types of writers have access or qualifications to do so?
Many of the writers who seek help through my writing retreat and intuitive book coaching services push poetry aside. When it’s initially suggested as a means of opening creative freedom, it’s often met with resistance. My work involves banishing writing fear, self-criticism, judgment, and lack of confidence. These become more obvious at the mention of poetry. Yet, as I’ve seen over and over again, poetry ultimately unleashes writing freedom.
Untangling emotional knots related to writing starts with helping people unlearn what they’ve learned about creative expectations. This includes negative beliefs about poetry. Once perception barriers are broken down, writing possibilities change — and drastically. My clients come to love how poetry frees their writing in unimaginable ways. In fact, several who were once convinced they’d only write fiction have completely shifted creative emphasis and are now working on poetry collections.
Can you relate?
I once had resistance and harsh judgment against what I believed poetry was or wasn’t. After reading most poems, I’d end up thinking, what the fuck did that mean? I felt stupid, got annoyed, or automatically retorted, that sucked.
Poetry seemed like wine — obscure, elitist, and intentionally complicated. Looking back as to how I got such negative impressions, I can see there are inherent disconnects with how it’s taught in school, coupled by a literary mythos that accompanies the poets themselves. In other words, for me at least, there were never any relatable entry points. Language was stiff. Concepts obscure. I was always on the outside.
Many I work with feel similar exclusion. They think they can’t write poems, that words have to rhyme, or they don’t “get it.” They believe there’s a heavy academic requirement or intellectual pedigree one must be born with, or secret handshake they’re not privy to. Witnessing how false notions prevent people from exploring creative potential is exactly why I feel so compelled to change such notions.
My reevaluation of poetry came from my time as a creative writing graduate school student. I was 52 years old, acquiring an MFA at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. I worked with several teachers who were poets. They explained nuances and the unlimited creative potential of this form. Or better stated, they made room for my poetic writing and had me reflect on it in new ways that inspired my own creative application.
Poetry as abstract art
I was exposed to a tremendous range of contemporary poets — writers who take inspired chances in form, structure, and perspective. The pieces I read were nothing like the stuffy works I’d read before. In fact, these poems followed no formalized rules, which is why I got so inspired.
Writers such as Terrance Hayes, Joy Harjo, Brandon Shimoda, Nikki Giovanni, and Levi Romero express diverse life perspectives. They use unique cultural currencies to explore issues of injustice, love, belonging, and truth. Some of the work is simply breathtaking in craftsmanship. I read some poems that, surprisingly, struck me straight through the heart in ways no other art forms ever have.
I tell clients that with time, consistent exposure, and patience, poetry becomes less like wine and more like abstract paintings: rather than having to know what’s there — or be “right” about knowing what’s there — let expressive words move through you in ways which prompt you to reflect, internalize, and feel through meaning.
For poetry to become more fulfilling, you must have a willingness to stay open. Stave off judgement. Become more patient and allow meaning to penetrate. I got out of my mind’s dogmatic way. Seriously, a revised approach to poetry completely changed my writing life.
Writing poetry
I receive a poem a day via email thanks to poets.org (I recommend you do the same!). This exposes me to tremendous diversity in poetic style, form, and ideas. Each piece is entirely different from day to day. I’m constantly amazed at how vast poetry’s creative terrain can be. The extreme variation keeps me fueled to explore my own capacity, push past familiar words, try new styles, and keep my writing exciting and ever-changing.
As I read more interesting work, I write more interesting work. Creative osmosis just happens. Poetry, as I’ve come to understand, can extend beyond rules, have no expectations or absolute forms. There may be academic or literary folks who disagree, but this is my understanding. This free-form philosophy is what I teach and encourage writers to explore.
I write poetry to deal with life’s grief and confusion: my transition through divorce, moving to a new city, enduring estrangement from my 21-year-old daughter, questioning life and death as a mid-life 54 year-old woman, reclaiming forgotten innocence, rediscovering who I am, and falling in love. Exploring experiences through real-time writing, in poetic form, offered freedom to contemplate through uncontrived ways. Writing words without expectation or structure has gifted profound insight not received through any other form.
I’ve written poems that, at the time I wrote them, I didn’t understand. Then, months later, I’d come back and realize, wow, that’s what I meant! The give and take of expression and meaning, as a writer, has transformed my relationship with writing itself.
Give yourself time
If we’re exploring writing as a channel to discover ourselves, it helps to be patient. Self-exploration is rarely neat and tidy. That’s why poetry can be so powerful and why reading and writing poems can energize your approach to self-connection in unencumbered, non-rational dialog. New ways of writing lead to new ways of discovery.
My armchair advice: unlearn everything you’ve learned about poetry. Or rather, unlearn what you’ve been conditioned to believe about poetry. Forget that words have to rhyme; that anything has to “make sense.” Stay curious about where your expression carries you, where descriptions or impressions are felt.
As reader, you’ll be surprised by the truth or resonance that’s revealed through the poems others have written. As a writer, I guarantee you’ll unearth new meaning in your words.
Poetry is feeling. It’s color. It’s motion. It’s unnamable. It’s aroma. It’s circular. It’s jagged. It’s a pristine sandy shoreline. It’s a frosty strawberry shake. It’s a puppy. It’s a dragon. It’s a crisp collar. It’s a frilly dress. Poetry is your essence, which is shapeless and formless and free.
Be open to discovery
To share through example, try exploration by engaging with a poem I recently wrote. The idea isn’t to initially “get it.” There is no “it.” What this poem meant to me as I wrote it may differ for anyone who reads it. Openness to poetry’s experience, as a reader and writer, without heavy expectation, offers tremendous freedom. Sometimes it’s a poem’s concept. Or rhythm. Or unspoken discovery. Or specific words that grab us.
Be patient with words. Be curious as you spend time with a poem. See if meaning appears or changes. Whether it does or doesn’t for you is totally OK. Not every poem will connect. Sometimes the timing’s off. Try coming back to it later. Just give yourself a chance. Remain patient and curious. Seek lots of poems. Different authors. Different styles. Keep exploring poetry’s potential to shift your writing life in surprising new ways.
— — —
blood flow machination
kinda takes you by surprise,
don’t it?
this flow of laughs and desertion—
over and over and over again
threading irony’s childish needle
stitch and nervously chuckle,
have a cigar, even
or hell, go wild—
give the certainty groom
front row access
to cheer from a camping chair
and marvel at blood flow’s
sometimes cruel
yet sometimes unrelentingly lovely
machination
for life
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It’s Time To Unlearn What You Know About The Writing Process
Writing Without Purpose
Who Says Rhyme Doesn’t Pay?
Want To Be A Writer? Let Your Imagination Run Wild.
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