Poetry...As a Therapy

Poetry is one of those realms that either scares a writer to death or becomes an addiction.  I recently dove into poetry after taking a class focusing on how madness and poetry are related.  It was a very insightful and interesting class that combined writing and reading so that you really gained an understanding from both sides of the spectrum.   

During this class, as I stated before, I had to write poems *shudders*.  Yes, you heard me correctly write my own poetry.  First of all let's clear some thing up.  I have always been incredibly insecure about my writing.  Since the time I began writing in middle school I never, and I mean never, let anyone read my stories.  They stayed locked away and hidden within the pages of my numerous notebooks, so letting others read my work was difficult if not impossible with poetry.  Next take keep in mine I might have written poetry once and failed before taking this class. 

The deal for the class was to write three papers and at least one of the three had to be creative.  I was terrified when I heard this and decided that my first paper would be analytical.  (Typical me putting off what needs to be done).  When the second essay loomed around I had no idea what I was going to write.  I decided to do an imitation of a poet to ease the pain.  I was surprised by what I found. 

I have to say that by no means did I find that my poetry was anything special.  In fact if we're being entirely honest it sucked, but the experience was not as difficult as I imagined.  I actually felt that I learned more about myself than in any other piece of my written work.  I cried while writing one of my poems, CRIED.  I have seldom cried while writing and when I do it is more along the lines of teary eyes not an all out sob fest.  The poems I wrote were me and only me.  They were parts of myself I either denied or ignored.  I touched on insecurities, flaws, as well as aspects I loved about myself.  

 

In the end I learned that poetry is personal.  It's deep and it can unlock places within you that you never thought existed.  So even if you know you are not a poet and you know your poetry sucks, I think that sometimes it can be interesting to see what comes out of that pen.  I find so many times that my stories help me cope with life but poetry helped me deal with life.

So next time you open up that word document or pull out your favorite pen try something new.  Try and understand the real you with a bit of therapeutic  poetry writing.  For me it was easier to start with some more free flow and prose but if you feel better with something more regimented go for it! Who knows what you may uncover when you finish those stanzas?