My Love Hate Relationship with Poetry

Poetry is and has to be one of the most popular writing styles out there. It gave a voice to many that we know today and studied at some point in school, or heard in our lives. Even today still poetry have been on the rise with various ways to put your work out there. Many come together from all over to celebrate National Poetry Month in April, but wait where did that come from? I haven’t heard of this before until some years ago so where have I been? No where really but hating poetry well maybe disliking poetry, maybe more than dislike mixed with a little tablespoon of love. Maybe it will be more understandable if I tell you about my love hate relationship with poetry, and how it blossomed into true love.

The first time I heard of poetry that I can remember is in school, I automatically thought the writing assignment would be something I’d enjoy being that I use to love writing short stories. But with a quickness I began to slowly dislike this form of writing when my teacher started explaining the do’s and don’ts for the assignment to write a poem. I was throughly not enthused because I am use to writing forms that did not require all these rules. The slight love for it were because it carries such a beautiful expression of the poet’s emotion that flowed to make you see something may it be an object, or whatever is used in a totally different way. I loved how their words would be put together to paint a beautiful imagery for the reader. It’s almost like watching a painter paint a masterpiece just with pen and paper. I loved reading the works of poets but I didn’t like all the rules and what makes this a poem and what does not. So yes in literature class it were always very hard for me to get and do any assignments pertaining to poetry. I don’t know why but rhyming just does not come easy for me with poetry. That along with the other rules is why I developed a love hate for it. I often thought how can something with so much expression and meaning have to be confined to rhyming and all these rules that were being thrown at me in literature class? So all the way through school and even college I stuck with just loving the reading side and based on the grades I’d received on poetry assignments made that an even bigger reason why I wouldn’t try to get into this writing style no matter how much I wanted too. I tried my hand at it and it was not a good hand at all, so I’d just continue to admire poets, and maybe get the courage to try it outside of “just for a grade”.

So one day after buying some books from one of my favorite bookstore Barnes and Noble I ran across a poet named Rupi Kaur. I had seen her books before but didn’t ever take the time to take a peek inside. Then one day with some extra time I was in the Poetry section and I saw her book “Milk and Honey”. I read a few pages and was like wow her poetry is different but so packed with so much feeling and meaning. I looked through the classic poets like Maya Angelou and Langston Hughs etc, and I thought how is her poetry labeled as poetry? So I had to open my mind a little and realize that in school they went by a curriculum that was across the board so they didn’t teach us EVERYTHING. So I jumped and decided I’d get and do my research and look deeper into poetry and what they call “modern poetry”. I started learning all types of things about poetry from old poets to new poets, to even exploring the different types of poetry. Then it became very overwhelming because it’s so very many different ways to write a poem, and that helped me to understand that there was no way any teacher or professor could give all this information. I started seeing more than just the typical haiku, ballad, and sonnet poems that we studied and started seeing free verse, blank verse, narrative, and prose poetry. Now it were time for me to explore and try my hand at various types of styles. That was when my love began to grow more than just that tablespoon I had started with in the beginning.

I began writing at 7 years old. When I was just a little girl my dad gave me a pen and I took to writing very early which would later become my outlet. As I spoke on before when I lost my dad I had stopped writing for a while and it took some time for me to pick up a pen to write again. Poetry is what made me pick up that pen again and to process those hard emotions I were feeling. I had just began writing again in general after taking a hiatus from it after the loss of my dad. Poetry started becoming my favorite writing style because it challenged me in the way of using my feelings to create more than just a journal entry in my journal and much more than a short story. It helped me to get and express myself even more in my writing as well as pull out old wounds that I hadn’t wrote about or had suppressed. That was when I began to genuinely love poetry, it became one of my go to writing styles for self expression as well since 2019 when I started back writing. Although I’ve tried my hand at several different types of poetry my favorite would definitely have to be Narrative Poetry and Prose Poetry. I love these because, see they paint a full picture when written and they tell a full story of the poets heart that one can easily relate too. The imagery in these are made so clear and detailed, now I’m not saying that other forms don’t give to the reader what these give, I’m just saying that these have given me my voice in poetry and helped me to grow to love this genre even more and to see the freedom of it. I’ve also used poetry to express my deepest feelings instead of journaling them all the time. I will sit down to journal and then a whole poem will end up flowing out of me instead. It has helped me express them in an unique way that helps me stay balanced with my emotions and feelings and is definitely something that I would recommend for anyone that wants to get to know themselves better, process emotions, feelings, as well as thoughts or process a traumatic experience.

I’ve felt millions of things in my heart that my mouth couldn’t speak, Poetry is the key to my heart because it has a big mouth. ~Meg.A.

April is National Poetry Month, and I hope this helps you want to express yourself through poetry, because poetry is a great way to put your emotions, feelings and heart into a poem that many can relate to. Poetry I have to say is just good for the soul and I truly encourage anyone that wants to try it to grab, that pen and paper and write a poem. You never know who else may relate to your feelings and your poem can help them understand themselves as well, and not feel bad for the way they feel by knowing that someone else out there understands them as well. I also encourage you to celebrate National Poetry Month by taking some time out the day and write a poem each day and sharing some with others, I know I would love to see them and will be writing everyday as well to honor Poetry month. Remember poetry as well as writing is good for the soul, and your soul deserves it. Let me know how you plan to spend and celebrate this beautiful written art this month of April.

My favorite way to write poetry is in prose form💖

Prose is one of my favorite ways to write my poetry, but I love free verse and narrative poetry. I love to tell a story through my poetry. If you write poetry, what is your favorite type to write and why? Feel free to reach out and share any of your poems with me I’d love to see what you write. Happy National Poetry Month♥️