Why We Need Poetry
I don’t know if it’s because
poetry is the language of rebels, artists and mavericks, confounding expectations, breaking rules and saying this, this is how things might be
or maybe that
at times of the deepest emotion, we turn as if by instinct, back to poetry
Of course perhaps
it’s the invitation to play, to dance, to make words sing
or simply that
we need to express a deeper truth
Perhaps it’s because we understand that
poems are born from the words of the heart
or maybe, as one who’s found this, that
once you get started you can make your own rules
And yet I know it’s not form, it’s that
some things are too beautiful, or too terrible, not to be spoken in verse
Which means I believe to my core that
however much some poems baffle us, others can reach us at the most human, most universal level
and that
we are human, and long to say: this, this is how it was for me… and we will keep exploring and experimenting with ways to say it, share it, make you feel it too
Or maybe it’s simply that
poetry has a pulse.
and sometimes we need reminders of how it feels to be alive.
~~~
Does poetry fulfil a need in your life? What would you add to this list?
(Yes, it’s a 10 point list as well as a prose poem 
)
~~~
Some of the places I’ve been finding gems of poems online recently:
Maya Stein writing at One Paragraph at a Time. Her poems are breathtaking. You might also want to sign up for her newsletter 10 Line Tuesdays.
Patti Digh’s 37 Days Blog – she has a Poetry Wednesday, with additional poems this month for National Poetry Month. Here’s one that stopped me in my tracks: Monet Refuses the Operation
This post is a wee contribution to that month long celebration.
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See..art is a living breathing thing….beautiful, just beautiful.
I love this.
.-= Janice Cartier´s last blog ..Folded Painting =-.
Joanna, A little anecdote. Reading poetry sometimes leaves me cold, sometimes not. But several years ago, my wife and I saw a live poetry reading called Behind the Broken Words, performed by actors Anthony Zerbe and Roscoe Lee Browne. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more moved my a theatrical performance.
.-= Brad Shorr´s last blog ..How to Get Your Business Started on Twitter =-.
Because poetry is where almost all writers start out in my experience. I know I did, until I realised I was a bit rubbish at it and moved to fiction. Plus it’s one of those things that everyone can do ‘for themselves’. You don’t write a quick novel ‘for yourself’ or to ‘express what you’re feeling’, but poetry is great for that kind of outpouring.
.-= Iain Broome´s last blog ..Who wants to write for Write for Your Life? =-.
I enjoy reading poetry very much, especially before I begin my day writing prose. Poetry reminds me to dig deep for the truth and beauty in my fiction stories.
Wonderful post! Happy National Poetry Month
I love writing poetry.
I find it challenging, and at the same time, freeing.
It compels me to look at each word, at the rhythm, and all the little things I overlook when I’m writing prose. In fact, I find poetry to be a good way to warm up for my prose writing.
One of the best “coming-of-age” novels I’ve found in the kid section at my local library (found while hanging out with my kids) was a novel written all in poetic journal entries. I wish I could remember the name of that book . . . but I had to check it in, and didn’t write the title down.
.-= Tyrean Martinson´s last blog ..Poems from the road . . . and other stuff =-.
WORK WINO
Poet, you addict of
LIFE
and death, what
IS A POEM
but drunken breath?
BUT
breath it is; a vital need
YOU HAVE
to write,
TO READ
and somehow stagger
BETWEEN THE LINES
intoxicated on verbal wines.
Joanna, even before I read “Why We Need Poetry” I loved the look of it. Thanks for sharing your insights.
Beautiful post, Joanna. I have an odd relationship with poetry–I like it, some times, appreciate the creativity, the flow, but I like my poetry to be accessible. I don’t like the stuff that makes me really work for it, and I usually don’t like poetry that rhymes, either, because it always makes me think of cheesy Hallmark cards … but, still. Then there’s the good stuff that draws me in and makes me see things in a new way.
What a wonderful post. I suppose we can speak of “need”–but it seems something else. Poetry, like music and story is part of the very fabric of our being. It is our nature to express ourselves poetically. Need or nature or a little of both?
Wonderful post. Thank you and have a wonderful National Poetry Month!
Darryl’s Poetry Blog http://www.poema2009.blogspot.com
Poetry fulfills many, many needs in my life! Love this post and what it expresses and absolutely agree. Poetry touches every part of human experience–it doesn’t flinch from anything. As Freud said, “Everywhere I go, a poet has been there before me.” I share almost daily poems (not by me, alas) on my blog and try to make them as accessible as possible because I believe that no one should feel excluded from all that poetry has to offer. It’s life-saving! Thanks for this post! Leslie
.-= Leslie Srajek´s last blog ..A New Season, a New Project and Some Updates on Familiar Things =-.
Hey Joanna,
Poems allow us to breathe fully. Exhaling through words is a beautiful thing. Once we do it, they take on their own paths. We just give them flight.
I like how you mentioned making you own rules. I feel limited sometimes, by rhythm and rhyme. Time to remove the shackles I believe.
Great post
Conor
Jo, you continue to amaze me! A 10 point list, an awesome poem, a writing coaching session and celebration of National Poetry month all in one post! I agree with all of your points. Poetry is so forgiving, it is the one form that allows us to just feel the writing, well for me anyway. I read poetry to recharge my energy and inspiration and help me to find my pacing. The rhythm and language of poetry never fails to challenge me in my writing.
.-= Karen Swim´s last blog ..Brand Autopsy: GreenBox is Marketing Done Right =-.
The need that poetry fulfills in me is the desire, on occasion, to say something that I cannot put into words…unless it is in poetic form. This is how I started writing, way back as a young girl; I could express myself so much better in a poem than out loud or even in prose.
Lovely post; thank you for this.
Yes!
Just Yes!
.-= Anne Wayman´s last blog ..Claiming Credit For Ghostwriting =-.
Does poetry fulfil a need in your life?
Nope.
But, I’m sure you remember that about me. I’m one of those odd writers who hates poetry. I didn’t start out writing it. I don’t like to read it. I don’t understand it. Psalms is my least favorite book of the bible. I cringe at poetry. I almost didn’t read this post because of my dislike. But, you will always win out over poetry, and if you wrote it, it’s at least worth my time to try to find something in it.
I think it’s odd I can belong to a world (writers) where poetry is so important and I simply don’t get it.
.-= Debbie Yost´s last blog ..Disease? =-.
@Debbie, that was such an interesting fact I had to come back and comment.
I don’t think it’s odd, we’re all different in what moves us. Curious, do you like music?
.-= Karen Swim´s last blog ..Brand Autopsy: GreenBox is Marketing Done Right =-.
Janice indeed
Brad a lot of poetry leaves me cold too. Isn’t it amazing to experience a performance like that though? I once went to see Shane Koyczan a performance poet at the Edinburgh Book Festival. It was astonishing – I was laughing out loud then in tears, floods of tears as were many members of the audience. I felt like he was letting me see straight into his soul. It changed my perception of poetry… for good
Laura I love that line “Poetry reminds me to dig deep for the truth”… just wonderful, thank you
Tyrean I guess a lot of the things that free us are also in some way challenging… good point about the benefits for other forms of writing too. It certainly makes me much more aware of the rhythm of language.
Jo thanks for sharing a poetic response
I loved this… intoxicated on verbal wines 
Thank you.
–Deb I’d probably give a similar description. I can’t be bothered with work that’s not accessible (or too cheesey) but there are just some poems that are written in the language of the everyday and can still move us on the deepest and most profound level…
Darryl see what you mean… kind of like air that we need to breathe
Leslie that’s a wonderful mission for your blog! I share the belief that we should make poetry as accessible as possible… and also that poems can be life-saving.
Conor you know I can tell those poems of yours are just itching to fly
“Exhaling through words is a beautiful thing” – what a wonderful line. I’m going to keep that one, thanks
Karen it’s all rhythm to me too… gets deep inside – body, soul, spirit… wonderful
Eleanor I think that’s really why poetry is so important – not the stuff that gets published in books, but the things that we write as humans with a deep and significant need to express ourselves
Anne Yes indeed!
Sorry Iain for jumping over your comment. Thanks for that perspective – I like the idea that poetry is the place where we start out and warm up, and you’re right, a novel couldn’t fulfil that function. I wonder if you still write poetry in addition to your fiction work? (If it’s still fulfilling a need)
Debbie I love your honesty
I do remember this about you, and in fact you were in my mind when I was writing this post. I’m honoured that you still made the time to read it despite the subject matter!
@Karen – Yes, I like music. I guess that is a form of poetry, isn’t it? I never really thought of that. I don’t really mind simple poetry that is clear but I don’t like the ones with hidden symbolism. In college I had to read an Emily Dickenson poem and write a paper on what it meant. I had to have a friend help me and even after she did, I still didn’t care for it. I liken that kind of poetry to word problems in math. I just don’t think my brain works that way.
.-= Debbie Yost´s last blog ..In a Span of 5 Minutes =-.
Debbie you know I don’t really have the patience for poetry you have to dig through to work out what they’re on about… at the moment anyway I’m like you in preferring writing that is clear and simple. For me (but I’m not trying to persuade you!) sometimes poetry can actually be *more* clear and simple because there are less words and the rhythm, repetition and use of language works its magic on a different level. But, like I said, I respect your right not to like poetry, and am grateful that you keep reminding me of that fact, because it makes me think harder about my own connection to the poetic form, and makes me feel appreciative of and grateful for the fact we’re not all the same
I like poetry becasue it relieves stress and gives me the ability to create stories. Also, it helps me encourage and inspire people. This post came at the right time because I completed a poetry book. Before, I finished it someone told me that poetry doesn’t sell. I’m proving her wrong by each book I sale.
.-= Omar´s last blog ..Happy Resurrection Sunday =-.
Omar wow, what a wonderful tribute to the power of poetry! I’m glad you’re making good progress with the book and sales too, that’s brilliant.
I’ve been using poetry a lot more at my blog lately, and I just love it. I find some things just want to get expressed in poem form. I write more quickly when I write poetry, and it feels more like pure inner listening more than writing, actually. It’s a wonderful relief from / complement to the left brain “let me organize this coherently” kind of thinking I do when I’m writing a more conventional personal growth, how-to blog post.
I’ve also started writing poems based on tweets – there’s something about the short form of a quote that provides a great springboard for the creative mind to take it deeper or explore it further. It’s been a great practice for me.
Thanks for writing about this so beautifully!
Tara
Tara thanks so much for the comment and reminding me about this post! I understand and recognise so much of what you say here – it is indeed a wonderful relief from left brain thinking. I think that’s why the form makes me feel so contented, creative, and connected to the world (inside and out). Poems based on tweets is a wonderful idea, and you’ve given me a notion for something I want to experiment with too… thanks!
[...] archive, haven’t you already written that the writing of the poems is what mattered? That the act of poem writing can help us to change state, that there are some days when reason gets us down and poems offer a different kind of [...]