Poetry

So pleased to be hosting Becca, an amazing writer-friend from my creative writing group! Becca writes fabulous poetry and is such an inspiration. You check out some of her poetry on Pinterest here.

I've been asked about poetry before, what do I write it about, why do I write it, and of course, how do I write it? But my mental response is always how do you not write poetry? How do you release your emotions? How do you get what feels like a hundred pounds of sadness, love, pain, anything off of your chest? 

I write poetry for numerous reasons, because I want to, because I love to, but most of all, because I need to. If I were an artist, I'm sure I would express my feelings by painting or drawing them, but I believe that words are the key. I love words, they can paint anything in your mind, from the sensation of a summer rain on your skin to a knife of pain in your chest to the fluttering feeling of a first kiss. And poetry, in my opinion, is the most beautiful form of words imaginable. 

It could be a rhyme that sounds beautiful in your head or dancing off of your tongue, or the messy, free flow of bottled up emotions of any kind just leaving your mind. It's relatable, it's freeing, and it's amazing. I once read a quote that stuck with me because it was so true. It said, "Poetry is what happens when your mind stops working, and for a moment, all you do is feel." And it's absolutely true, when I'm writing poetry, I don't think about the things I'm writing, I just write. It's as if I'm bleeding from my pen and spilling everything inside of me. No poems are thought out, they're rarely planned, they just happen. 

As the amazing Robin Williams said in Dead Poets Society, "…. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are all noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." And when you hit the point where writing it is as easy as breathing, you can't help but write. At this point, poetry is just a part of who I am as a person, and I couldn't live without it. I don't write poetry by planning out what I'm going to write, it's not a high school essay. I write what I feel. Did I have a bad day? Then I'll write a poem about what made that day bad, but I'll also write a poem about what makes life beautiful. 

Poetry is truly what I stay alive for, but more than that, it's what keeps me alive.