Poetry is a bridge
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I have a book coming out this Spring. The book, Sauce will thicken on standing, is a collection of poetry I’ve written across 20 years - from 2001 to 2021, with just a few outliers. It’s been a long time coming.
So why bring all of these poems together, and why now?
Well, this isn’t actually the first time I’ve put some of these poems together. Years back, I packaged a few of them as ‘story changers’- poems from my journey to yours - as part of my coaching offering, having found that many of my clients responded particularly well to metaphor that is wrapped in rhyme, especially when it came to that which they were resisting.
These poems, which I’d written as personal therapy for myself, offered something. I used to get the same response when I performed some of these poems too. Feedback that really stuck with me was one person saying “I have no idea what you said but I feel good.” I don’t know whether it was what I said, or the way I said it, but to me, it doesn’t matter. I left someone feeling better for sharing my words. If it was only that one person, then it was worth it.
I was listening recently to Glennon Doyle’s We Can Do Hard Things podcast (again. Yes, I’m a fan), specifically about Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy, during which she talked about her relationship with poetry, saying,
“I have to delve into poetry so I can let the exile part of me speak.”
I really felt this. Quite often, my poetry is literally a part of me that I don’t listen to enough, and it’s only through writing poetry that she finds her voice. Sometimes I’m aware of what needs to pass through me and others, this voice can take me by surprise, flowing as it seems to, straight from my sub (or un!) conscious right onto the page.
There is definitely something about poetry that bypasses the conscious mind. So often, things we know but perhaps are not ready to admit or confront, we shut down using intellectual arguments (or at least, I know I do this). But as Lewis, Amini and Lannon, authors of A General Theory of Love (a fascinating book on the science of human emotions) say,
“Where intellect and emotion clash, the heart often has the greater wisdom.”
So, for those who are open to it, poetry can be the quickest way to speak directly to, or write directly from, that inner wisdom. It tricks the conscious mind with its pretty metaphors and slips in discreetly, so that emotions are stirred before you even begin to really process what the words mean.
Words, say Lewis, Amini and Lannon, can only be understood by the neocortical brain, the most recent brain in terms of evolution and the only one that can process the abstract… But it is the earlier limbic brain - the brain responsible for communication and emotional connection - to which poetry speaks.
This is why my love affair with words will always begin and end with poetry. And it’s why I finally decided that sharing my words with whoever may connect with them, is worth doing.
To learn more about my upcoming collection, and be first to know when it’s released, come and connect with me over on instagram.
If you connected with these words in any way, please hit the little hands below! And leave a comment if you feel moved to do so. I am always up for new connections.
