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March 21, 2014

Poetry Friday--Poetry-O-Therapy

You've heard of bibliotherapy, and you've probably heard of poetry therapy, too. There is value in poetry's use as a way to healing.

Illustration courtesy Comicartfans.

I've found that I use poetry to work through things that have been prickles, rather than full-blown crises in my life. I refer to it as Poetry-O-Therapy. Case in point is the poem I'm going to share with you today. A little background first: an acquaintance shared some rather disturbing news. This person's very public response, to what I thought was an intensely personal matter, disturbed me. I thought about it for several days, discussed it with a trusted friend, and still it bothered me, so, I decided to write.

At first I laid it all out--what I thought was wrong and why. It was a long rambling brain dump. I didn't want anyone to recognize the circumstances, and I certainly didn't want to make it any more public than it already was, so I rewrote it, and pared it down to very small poem. I took out all the particulars and employed a musical metaphor. Here's the result:
Troppo

Her instrument unfinished
--never polished, never tuned.
It simply would not be played

More's the pity then--they
coaxed a whimper and thus
demanded it be orchestrated.


Note: troppo is a musical term, from the Italian, meaning "too much." © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.
The poem may not make a lick of sense to anyone but me, but it worked to relieve me of my negative feelings. I think that writing is a great way to stop and put things in perspective. I suppose it would be more accurate to call it therapeutic writing, but that sounds a bit too serious. If you've got something you need to work through, give poetry a try.

Julie at The Drift Record is our hostess with the mostess for this Friday's Round-Up!


16 comments:

  1. Thanks for this post, Diane. One reason I think writing poetry is good for children and teens is exactly what you explain here. By writing a poem about an experience, you've created an object -- separate from you. That distance can be healing.

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  2. Both writing and reading poems are helpful to me, and when my students began to find poems that "spoke" to their experience, they did begin to write more personally too. Your poem made more sense with the background you shared Diane. It's good to hear from others how they value poetry too.

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  3. I've used poetry to work through difficult times and feelings, though probably not so much targeted at a specific instance or event. Maybe I will now, though. Interesting post, Diane-- thanks for sharing your process.

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    1. I'm always happy to share my process since I'm so interested others' processes.

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  4. Thanks for sharing this specific example of using poetry writing as therapy. Interesting how you ended up paring it down to just the essentials that spoke to you.

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    1. Paring down is essential! Better to say too little, than too much.

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  5. I'm not much of a poet, Diane, but I do write...and it helps. Now I am intrigued by the story that you shared and the poem that inspired. My writer's imagination takes over!

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    1. I hope your writer's imagination brings you something super!

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  6. Writing poetry was incredibly helpful to me when I was a teenager. Sometimes I thought of them as song lyrics, although I couldn't write the music for them. It seems like many songwriters find the process to be therapeutic!

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    1. Tabatha, any creative activity that takes you out of yourself can't help but be therapeutic. "Therapeutic," though, is such an ugly word.

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  7. Good to hear, poetry worked fornyou in that way, luv the peanuts you chose to supplement your post

    Have a nice weekend

    Much love...

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    1. Thanks, Gillena, Lucy as shrink has always tickled me!

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  8. Good advice. I appreciate the wisdom of your revision!

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    1. Revision is the most important part of writing!

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