How I Use SoulCollage® to Inspire and Create Poetry

And how that same magic might well apply to songwriting

If my soul speaks the language of images, then no doubt it speaks the language of poetry and song.

I’ve often been so moved by a vista, a view, a piece of art, or a photograph, I wrote a song or poem on the spot. Or had one percolating in my head. Or took a picture of the compelling view so I could capture it later with words aftet they had a chance to marinate in the juices of the experience.

It may be a monologue as I give voice to a magnificent mother tree or a rusty old pickup abandoned in a field of waist-high weeds.

But because I’m engaged, it could just as easily be a dialogue. Between and among the elements in the image themselves. Or between the maternal magnificence or patina of regrets that the image evokes in ourselves.

Something moved me to write or sing about it now or later. With my unique voice perspective, I add meaning and metaphor as well as assonance, consonance, and alliteration into the mix of poetic possibilities.

Now I’m adding SoulCollage®into the mix.

What the heck is SoulCollage®?

SoulCollage® is the brainchild of visionary art and Jungian psychotherapist, Seena B. Frost. She also has a Master of Divinity from Yale. The process of making collages to reveal and heal evolved out of her art therapy practice, infused with inspiration from Jean Houston.

It’s called SoulCollage® because souls resonate with visual images. I think of it as their love language. When I’m drawn to a particular image–photograph, natural vista, or work of art, my soul’s saying pay attention here.

This is particularly true when the image is not one I’d normally notice. I consider that an underscore or exclamation point.

See the list below to catch up on some previous in-depth posts about how and why I’ve engaged in this revelatory creative practice. And how it enhances me as a writer as well as uncovers nuances of character, setting, and plot for my stories.

SoulCollage® itself is a form of poetry.

SoulCollage® cards often come together in the same way a poem or a song might. Images appeal to me and I grab them. Or write them down.

They may or may not jive or appear to belong together at first blush. In fact, they may clash or express dissonance. But something tells me to put them there anyway. That something could be my Muse. Or my Soul. Or my inner kid imp who likes to be playful or just plain ornery.

I’m in the zone. I’ve learned to welcome every creative impulse. I can always edit later. But right now, my right brain’s in charge.

And she wants to splash and stomp in rain-made puddles. Or shake a fist in the face of impending fascism. Or caress the velvet muzzle of a sun-dappled pony. Or wail and keen at the dearth of heart left on this earth.

My job when this happens is to say yes and go where she flows, scribble scribing it all down as fast as I can.

Sometimes the images on my boards or pages engage with each other. I let them. I let their stories unfold and do my best to translate them into words and language.

Maybe I have a narrative poem. Maybe it evolves into a prose poem, flash fiction, or something even longer. There’s no word limit on poetry so who’s to say what the correct form is for my writing? I do! After all, I’m the writer.

I just made this card and let a poem emerge.

First, I will ‘read’ the card.

By that, I mean speaking as the soul of the card in all its combinations of imagery rolled into one voice. Though I could just as easily imagine a three-way dialogue between the masked figure, the clown dancer puppet, and the girl holding the heart. There are two other faces in there as well who could contribute to the conversation.

I’ll start with the card as a whole. The prompt for SoulCollage® card reading is: I am the one who…and then I write whatever comes.

So here goes:

I am the one who defies the hands of fate with my love. No matter how bleak or predestined things look, I am the one who persistently, consistently brings the love with her wherever she goes. No shadows are too dark or grim to not be lit up with love’s light.

When I took another dive into my card I felt some even more menacing energy. The kind that’s been unleashed of late in our country, particularly by the Supreme Court.

A chill ran through me and this happened:

Into this mix of mask and madness, I bring love.

Easy to pass laws, make rules, break rules, break hearts, break lives, hiding behind a mask. Easy to turn what you love into pretty puppet playthings and hold them by a string. You think you’re in control, by the power that you hold, the wheels on which you roll, and the money in your ‘fold.

Into this mix of mask and madness, I bring love.

Yet that which I bring can not be bought, or sold, or foretold. Living your loveless lie, will only catch you on the fly, hang you by your tie, and trap you till you die. Your draconian slavish ways put fetters on your days and invite demons into your sleepless nights. For only so long can you exist on the notes of only one song, playing for however long, without that which I bring.

Into this mix of mask and madness, I bring love.

Into this dungeon, I come, bringing a heart as big as the sun, and when all is said and done, I shall be the one…to survive and thrive.

Till then, I shall sit and bide my time because Into this mix of mask and madness, I bring love.

While it may not be a prize winner, once I let the image speak to me and my heart, I felt its power. It evoked something within me that needed to speak.

Something within me found the words, the rhythm, and the rhyme in not too much time to shape a poem on the page. A poem of silent rage, and even more silent, but even more powerful love. Thank you Soul card Muse!

Et Tu, Songwriting?

I don’t consider myself a songwriter, though I have written at least one original song. I woke up with it flowing through my mind.

That’s never happened before or since so go figure. Might it have had something to do with the encouragement I got from the musician I was dating at the time? I can’t sing very well, but he managed to hear and transcribe the song anyway.

May we all be blessed with such moments.

In the meantime, I imagine songwriters can use SoulCollage® for their Muse-cal inspiration in much the same way described above for poetry. After all, song lyrics are a form of poetry.

If I had the music first, I might listen to it while creating a card. Letting the images resonate and harmonize with the music serenading their birth. Or not. This is entirely up to me. I own my creative process, then create a bit of mystique around it. As I imagine many of us do.

Here are additional resources for SoulCollage® and writing.

Marilyn Flower’s the author of Creative Blogging: Ninja Writers Guide to Character Development and Bucket Listers, Get Your Brave On. Clowning and improvisation strengthen her resolve during these crazy times. Follow her Sacred Foolishness and Stay in touch!