poetry therapy
…Sometimes everything
has to be
enscribed across
the heavens
so you can find
the one line
already written
inside you…
From The Journey, by David Whyte
What is that one line already written inside you? Can others know about it? Or is it totally private? When you look into the sky how does it feel? What are other sights, sounds, aromas, or things that give you insight?
Your writing does not have to be poetry. If you worry about writing “well enough” here are some ways to engage with your inner critic:
Tell your inner critic it’s time to take a break while you express yourself. Send him or her to the movies or a beach in Hawaii.
Write a dialogue with your inner critic in which you also get a chance to stick up for yourself and explain why your writing is good enough just the way it wants to come out in a first draft.
Read children’s books to your critic and laugh together.
Anything else that works to free you.
This poetry, I never know what I’m going to say
I don’t plan it
when I’m outside the saying of it
I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.
These lines from Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks in The Essential Rumi, (published by Harper Collins) invite us to think about the process of writing. Rumi tells us that he doesn’t have a plan for what he will say, that writing and speaking are very different, and that the process of writing (in this case poetry but any writing will do) is about getting quiet and looking inside.
To use this poetic excerpt as a springboard for your own writing, take a few moments to “get very quiet” and let some words tumble from your pen onto the page. If you want a topic, think of something that happened to you today, something you are struggling with, or an everyday event you happened to observe.
In Grapefruit, A book of instructions and drawings, published in 2000, Yoko Ono writes:
Whisper Piece
a) Whisper. Ask the wind to take it to
the end of the world.
b) Whisper to the clouds. Ask them to remember
it.
c) Whisper what happened that day to the
reeds. Weave a pair of sandals with them and
send it to a friend.
d) Whisper all your secrets to a tree.
Make a guitar out of it and send it to a
woman.
e) Whisper a secret to a young tree. Make a
chair out of it and send it to a man.
f) Whisper your name to a stone. Send it to
a stranger.
g) whisper the first word that came to you
to a person next to you.
1961 Spring
(Copyrighted material used for educational and therapeutic purposes only)
Writing ideas:
What would you like to whisper and to whom?
What do you want to make out of that?
See if you can allow yourself to play with your words and allow whatever wants to jump onto the page. Your imagination is a powerful tool, and can teach you a lot about yourself.
Please of course send your writing in response to this post.