POETRY / WRITING / MENTAL HEALTH

Poetry As Therapy

Participating in a series of poetry challenges this month has been as emotionally gruelling as twelve months’ worth of therapy — and I’m not even halfway through it yet!

The beauty of poetry is its ability to capture big ideas, powerful truisms, and profound feeling in very few words. Sometimes a piece of poetry can tap into the deepest levels of our emotion or encapsulate our thoughts and experiences so perfectly that it leaves us feeling elated, or raw, or simply seen.

For the poets that spend time mining their minds and lives for inspiration, the experience can be healing or it can be draining. The practice of writing poetry can be lighthearted and frivolous or can feel like peeling layer after layer of skin off of oneself until all that is left is a mass of excoriated pulp.

Arguably, of course, a writer is not obliged to dig too deeply into the painful recesses of their psyche. No one has a gun in their back, right? (I hope!) However, it can be argued that when a writer, poet, painter, or musician is visited by the creative muse, what comes out of them is not the result of any conscious choice on their part.

This is doubly true when using poetry challenges and/ or poetry writing prompts for potential topics and as springboards to creative inspiration, as I and many others are doing this June here on Medium.

Usually, April is the month most often associated with poetry challenges, as it is the month in which NaPoWriMo takes place. That’s National Poetry Writing Month for the uninitiated (although these days it is an international event), and it is similar to November’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). During the month of April, several Medium publications (such as The Writing Cooperative and The POM) hosted poetry writing challenges and numerous poets participated in these events.

Although I enjoy writing poetry and find myself writing increasing amounts of it, I don’t really think of myself as a poet. As such, I wasn’t really clued up on NaPoWriMo in the same way I was its novel-writing cousin (although I have never actually participated in NaNoWriMo myself). I actually became aware of National Poetry Month thanks to Tree Langdon, who kindly tagged me into her poetic responses to the 2021 NaPoWriMo prompt challenge at Literary Impulse:

As I read through Tree’s poetic pieces each day, as well as discovering those of many other participants, I found myself increasingly attracted to the idea of participating in some kind of similar challenge myself although, due to work demands in April, it would have to be at a later date.

And thus it was that I happened to read this post by Diana C., editor of Know Thyself, Heal Thyself:

KTHT is one of my favourite publications and one for which I was already a writer, and I was immediately intrigued. I added the post to the Archive section of my Reading List with a mental note to return at some point.

Towards the end of May, I found myself ready to embark upon a writing challenge and as the 30-day-long month of June was approaching, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to start. I did so with this tanka, one of my favourite kinds of short-form poetry:

Then, shortly thereafter, I was invited by Sahil Patel to participate in his 30 Day Writing Challenge, an invitation I was delighted to accept:

At the same time, I was conscripted into The Large Long Limerick War of 2021, a hilarious and good-natured skirmish spearheaded by Michael Burg, MD (AKA Medium Michael Burg) and involving numerous combatants, including but not limited to Terry Trueman Jennifer McDougall Will Hull Adelia Ritchie Skye Mo'ipulelehua Kahoali'i Anthony O'Dugan Ann Marie Steele Mary DeVries and Lee Ameka:

I also decided to tackle some of the clever neologisms in the Made Up Words Writing Challenge:

I joined in on a few fun poetry prompts courtesy of Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) at The Brain is a Noodle:

and Galit Birk, PhD at Being Known:

As you can see, June is proving to be a poetry-heavy month for me, and although I’m really enjoying it, it is also proving to be very gruelling at times.

Perhaps inevitably, I have found myself tapping into some pretty deep emotional veins, particularly in the two 30 Day Writing Challenges. For instance;

Whilst there is much to be said for confronting one’s feelings and taking the time to really look inside ourselves, it can undoubtedly stir up some confusing and/ or confronting emotions, or cause us to relive past traumas in very vivid detail. Moreover, this can be as much the case when you consume poetry as it is when you write it and, as I read the amazingly powerful work of my fellow poetry challenge participants, I frequently find myself with an aching heart, flayed emotions, and tear-filled eyes.

Words have power, and poetry is profound. I don’t think I have ever fully appreciated the extent to which it can reach into our very core and churn up our feelings. Indeed, for me, participating in these poetry challenges with their varied collections of thought-provoking prompts is proving to be as emotionally arduous as a year’s worth of therapy — and I haven’t even reached the halfway point yet!

Shout-out to David Rudder William J Spirdione Lindsay Soberano-Wilson Aaron Quist Hilda Carroll Denise G Jack Lincoln Laurie Perez Desiree Driesenaar Patrick M. Ohana Edward Riley Carolyn Riker Christina M. Ward Sherry McGuinn Eva Rotolo Sarah L. Harvey Haikuster Gaby Rogut James G Brennan Jeff Ehren Dan J Jac Harmony Spyder Simran Kankas PoetChris Kira Dawn Dr. Fatima Imam Caroline de Braganza Dr Mehmet Yildiz Denise Larkin Kent Clark Kiki Wellington Pretheesh Presannan Dr. Preeti Singh Dr. Fatima Imam Josh Balerite Acol A Rustic Mind (Manali Desai) Prasant Trivedi Bhavna Narula Orla Kenny Anchal Melanie J. Carolyn Hastings Kyomi O’Connor TC Hails Elle Beau ❇︎ Sarah Paris Laurie Perez Spyder Dave Logan Rhonda Marrone Marcus Amy Pierovich, Ed.D. Paul Douglas Dennett Meghan LS Ivette Cruz Kimberly Hampton Nilsson Himanshi B Alice Floris Thalia Dunn Samantha Lazar Leigh Fisher Francesca Dallaglio Lennie Varvarides Silvia Poldaru, MA Carolyn F. Chryst, Ph.D. Kim McKinney Penofgold James Knight Claire Kelly and all the many other writers who have been plumbing their depths this month in the name of the poetic Muse.

Jupiter Grant is a self-published author, blogger, narrator, and audiobook producer. Buy me a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/jupitergrant

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