I love words. I love writing, probably more than I should. When you are a words person, you understand the world best in words, rather than in pictures or numbers. Words are capable of creating chaos, but at the same time create peace. I especially love fiction. It takes me to an ordered world, away from the chaos and ugliness of this one. And when I want to express a complex idea in a way that people find acceptable and understandable, I use poetry.
Stephen Burt, a poetry critic, explains that when he has a new experience or a new feeling, “he gets a little frustrated until he can put it into words.” For him, words, more so in poetic form can make you happier, sadder or more alive.
He goes on to say that poetry, just like music, doesn’t only serve one purpose. It is a set of techniques that turn emotions into words. The more poetry you read, the more patterns you are able to recognize in things that you might already love, like or hate.
One of the reasons why I love poems is that they have a unique signature, just like a person has their own personality. They are easy to share, easy to pass on and if you read them keenly, you find that it is like someone is speaking for you or to you. With poems speaking to you, it is hard to feel lonely. That is why we turn to poems when we want to remember something, or someone, or a feeling that you once hid deep. You read poems when you want to celebrate and look beyond life’s anguish. You read poems to be calm- you write poems to calm the raging fire inside. Because poetry touches on the emotional aspect of human experience.
The Writing Cooperative explains that the abstract metaphors and parables of poetry often allow us to communicate more accurately — while employing what’s essentially the opposite of the “accurate” language.
It basically means that if poetry is genuine, it can communicate before it is understood.
The timelessness and emotional aspect of poems show us what someone is thinking, or thought. How they felt when they were in love, in pain, when brave, when disappointed. It is this same aspect of poetry that makes it seem “inside and outside at the same time,” says Stephen Burt.
When emotions override you, write a poem.