Poetry and the Self

For many, poetry is a daunting style of writing. People fail to see its relevance, claiming there are “too many rules,” “it’s confusing” or that it’s simply just a “lost art.” But poetry is none of these things; it can be something magical. As the pen flows across the page, emotions begin to unbind themselves, allowing for concealed words and ideas to be born out of oblivion and into the light. Words make up who we were, who we are and who we will be. It is because of this that I write.

Although poetry does have many stylistic approaches, there is no rule that has to be followed. Poetry should be something that comes naturally from within the self. It is created by our own individual experiences and consequences. The best poetry, I have found, is rooted in creativity and individuality, both in format and in content. For me, poetry has been a way in which I can express complex emotions that are hard to define with single words. These emotions resemble love, reminiscence, or sadness and are used to understand the self better. Often when I am caught up in a poem, it veers off from its intended direction and I find myself at the end with a whole new work of art that holds a different perspective than what I had originally started with.

I first experienced this phenomenon when writing a poem now titled, “Love Defined.” I began with the intention of the work detailing how in love I felt at the time, how amazing love is and the wonders of new and young love. As I began writing however, my stanzas began to evolve. No longer was I discussing how great love is, but rather I found myself describing fear, doubt and uncertainty encompassed entirely by the notion of love. Through this, I realized that I was inadvertently describing exactly what it feels like to be in love with someone. When we love, we’re afraid of being broken, we’re unsure of the future and sometimes we doubt ourselves. On the surface we hold this idea of love being perfect when, in actuality, love is a series of trials and hardships that we overcome with another person who makes us stronger. Likewise, poetry helps create a new form of understanding that builds us up through our weakest points.

Poetry is not just an outlet for emotions, it’s also a translator. It takes what we feel and it organizes it in a way in which we can better understand ourselves, our world, and our relationship between the two. It helps us to identify our strengths and our weaknesses. It helps us grow. It builds us up and creates our identities. And poetry, when performed, reminds us that we’re human.