I once heard a story about what advice WH Auden would give to an aspiring poet. When asking a young man why he wanted to write poetry, if the man replied, "Because I have something important to say," Auden believed the man would never become a poet. But if the man said, "Because I like to hang around words and see what they have to say," then there might be hope for him to be a poet. That's the important thing. That's the process, to let the words speak for themselves.
And I think therein lies the beauty of writing poetry. You can sit down with a pen and notebook and have an image in your mind, or a fragment of a story you want to tell, but you never really know what's going to come of it until you start writing. Sometimes a poem just shapes itself, and you start writing something that you didn't even know was inside you. You might start out thinking you have nothing to say, but then, somehow, you do. There's wonder and beauty in merely taking up your pen, taking up the task of writing a poem, and letting the words flow out. It's finding the joy in the journey of writing, shining light on the deep, dark places of your heart, exploring language for the sake of it.
Poetry is not just for the Grade 10 English classroom, nor is it an antiquated medium. It's not only for girls, or only for guys, nor is it restricted by age, or talent, or social status. Writing poetry is, in my opinion, something that should be embraced by the world, not laughed at or dusted off every couple months.
All you have to do is just sit. Breathe. And let the words come.
Maybe another week I'll talk about my own experiences and approach to writing poetry, but for now, this is it.
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