How To Write Emotive Poetry

How you can move readers with your poetry

I don’t really know why since I’m pretty depressing, but people seem to really like my poetry. Even though I seem unable to write happy poetry, I think I know why people like what I write. I write honest, emotional poetry that makes people feel.

First of all, I am really sorry to the people who do take the time to read my poetry. My poems are long and leave you feeling miserable, most likely. But my favorite stories and poems are the ones that make me think and make me feel — not necessarily the ones that make me happy. “And they all lived happily ever after” type endings just don’t cut it for me because they don’t emulate real life. That’s why I write the sort of poetry I do. I want you to see and feel and think about different people’s perspectives, and sometimes not everyone’s story is a happy one.

The stories and poems that stay with you are the ones that make you think and feel. That’s how to write emotive poetry. Make people think outside of their own bubble. Make people feel something that they never considered before.

I would like to mention Christina Ward 💗POM!💗here. She recently wrote a poem called “A Young Boy At The Border” and it’s beautiful. Her choice of words make us feel deeply for the boy. It forces you to think about what it must be like for a child to be in such a situation, feeling frightened and watching the adults around them. It’s a great example of how poetry can make people feel deeply and see different, darker worlds through a different perspective.

A Young Boy at the Border

a free verse poem

medium.com

I would also like to mention Jenny Justice and her poem “Ghosts” as an example. It explores the relationship between a person and their anxiety. Jenny has written a lot of poetry that has left me feeling many things but I pick “Ghosts” in particular because as someone who has anxiety I felt every word. That’s another way we can make people feel through our poetry, by showing them that we know exactly how they feel. I felt both moved and less alone by reading Jenny’s poem.

Ghosts

A Poem

medium.com

If you look around at the poetry community on Medium, you will find a lot of emotive poetry from extremely talented poets. Reading lots of poetry is how you learn how to write poetry that moves people and makes people feel deeply.

You need to be candid and honest if you want to evoke empathy or compassion from the reader. And if you’re writing something that you don’t think anyone will relate to, find the one thing that you think will spark a connection with any reader and use that to be the poem’s narrative. For example, in my poem “I Will Not Break” not everyone will understand or have been through the situations I talk about in this poem, but they’ll at least identify with how love helps us through our darkest times.

Poetry is how we express our deepest emotions, so don’t hold back. Explore the dark. Think outside the box. Feel those frightening or overwhelming emotions and get them onto the page. Even if you’re talking about the darkest thing you have ever been through or felt, I can assure you that pouring your heart into your poetry will provide light. That’s how you write emotive poetry, that’s how you make people feel – you pour your heart and soul onto the page and the result is it makes you a better person. Or maybe it’s just me, but I feel better once I’ve written my thoughts down. I think it requires a lot of bravery to be honest and open and to pour your soul onto the page but I think that’s where the deepest and most profound poetry often comes from. Emotive poetry comes from pain, passion and a need to restore order to a chaotic world. Writing is often how we make sense of the world, so if you want your poem to provide the answers that everyone is looking for, you’ve got to make sure you’re being honest and brave.

Don’t hold back, and open your heart – I believe that’s how you write great emotive poetry. It’s like Ernest Hemingway says: “It is easy to write. Just sit in front of your typewriter and bleed.”