By Arden Berry | Copy Editor
In my senior year of high school, I read “The Fish,” a poem by Elizabeth Bishop, in my English class. I had a great teacher. The way she would talk about our readings, diving into every metaphor and detail, made each class period an adventure, but especially when it came to poetry.
Bishop’s poem sticks out in my mind because it describes such a small, seemingly insignificant moment, but that moment is so vivid. Its impact is so evident. Only Bishop could have written this poem.
In a world of soulless AI writing, poetry may be the key to saving creative, original, personal writing. And, at least for me, poetry is deeply personal.
The world and the feelings it inspires are often big, complicated and scary. A poem can take one of those feelings and distill it into something more palatable.
Poetry is a safe space. I can liken an unspoken argument to a frozen lake, a toxic friendship to a game of chess or myself to a statue. When I write a poem, I am not only aware of my feelings, but I can control them. I can twist them into something clever, or sometimes something so gloriously terrible and dumb, but always real and reflective of what I’m thinking and feeling.
In some ways, poetry has changed how I interpret the world. Once I was on my way to class, and I found a neon green shoelace on the ground, surrounded by ants who probably thought it was food, and I thought, well, that’s just a poem in and of itself: seeking something real and nourishing but instead finding something bright but synthetic.
Maybe writing poems has made me more dramatic, but it helps me understand why something might be meaningful or is impacting me a certain way. In high school, I had a friend who found herself in a similar situation that I had been in a couple of years before, and I was trying to understand why it bothered me. I wrote a poem on how it felt like looking in a mirror, but ended it with the following lines:
“So I concede to a thought I can hardly endure:
Perhaps I am merely a reflection of her.”
Through writing these lines, I discovered a feeling that I could not have expressed otherwise. I was able to acknowledge that feeling and move forward.
But it doesn’t all have to be serious and meaningful. Back in February, the Union Board held a Valentine’s Day event with poetry, paper flowers and a chocolate fountain. As much as I love poetry, that chocolate fountain was a huge incentive, and it was not working at first. While I waited for it to be fixed, I wrote a poem about the chocolate fountain not working. Here are some lines:
“I cannot create a flower
It is not within my power
I do find poetry fun,
But it’s the moon, and chocolate the sun
For it was the reason I came
(I understand I may sound lame)
But soon I will check again
For my sweet, delicious friend
A chocolate fountain so sweet
And strawberries that could be a treat
It only my dearest would work
Lo, I see her beginning to perk!”
That night, poetry took on a new dimension for me: poems can be fun. There’s space for both agony and humor.
The poetry process is simple. Sometimes, I get an idea for a rhyming couplet that I like before bed, then I form a poem around it. Sometimes, I pull up a blank document and type a few lines until I get to something with rhythm or rhyme. I write when I’m angry, when I’m sad, when I’m happy and I always feel better having used the outlet to express the feeling.
And I’m not the only one. According to a 2020 research article published during the COVID-19 pandemic, poetry can be healing, especially when in isolation.
“Poetry, and the creative introspection it fosters, can help individuals feel more connected to themselves, to those around them, and to the external world as a whole,” the article reads.
So pull up Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Maybe grab a pen and paper. Either way, just start writing. Plan it out first or just go for it. Pull up RhymeZone if you’re searching for the perfect rhyming word or go free verse. Write one line or 50.
Merriam-Webster’s definitions of a poem are “a composition in verse” and “something suggesting a poem (as in expressiveness, lyricism, or formal grace),” so, really, anything can be a poem.
Just write. You’ll feel lighter and more creative having expressed your feelings through poetry.
