Inspiration for poems can come from anywhere.
Most of us were probably first introduced to poetry when we were still very young — through nursery rhymes. But by the time we entered middle school — at least for most of us — poetry was not something that was even on our radar.
However, around 30 years ago, I discovered something that totally surprised me. A library book of poems by different authors introduced me to poetry that really spoke to me … and suddenly, I couldn’t get enough of poetry!
A year or two later, while taking a class in Children & Literature, I had the chance to study this genre even more. Writing poetry helped me get in touch with feelings I didn’t even realize were there.
No matter what type of writing you may be doing on a regular basis, POETRY is a genre you really shouldn’t ignore.
The Healing Power of Poetry
U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze says:
“Poetry has a crucial role to play in our lives, society, and the world. It helps us slow down, hear clearly, see deeply, and envision what matters most in our lives.”
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Two areas in which poetry has proven to be helpful are the mental health of elderly people and learning in young people.
Thanks to the recommendation of a local poet and author I met at a recent writers’ conference, I checked out a website called poemRENOVATION.com.
Their home page says:
WORDS HAVE POWER
We’re building on that.
Meet poemRENOVATION, an award-winning daily word challenge that’s changing things up for eldercare & academia.
Here are a couple of testimonials I saw on their website:
“We have discovered that residents at every level of care can find joy with poemRENOVATION. Even residents living with memory impairment have engaged successfully and creatively with the program, stimulating new pathways and reopening memory connections once thought lost. We love poemRENOVATION and so do our residents.”
~ Rev. Dr. Kenneth Daniel (former CEO of United Church Homes)“I like how you can turn ordinary words into sentences that paint a picture in your brain.”
~ Middle School Student
Boosts Learning in Homeschool
Another site that does a good job of explaining the value of poetry is SimplyCharlotteMason.com. (Charlotte Mason is one of many teaching methods available to homeschool parents.)
Sonya Shafer — along with her husband, John — helped create the site as a way to share tips and ideas on ways to use this method.
In an article titled “What’s the Point of Poetry?” Sonya shared this:
“Charlotte Mason believed that GOOD poetry is the highest form of literature. … Poetry cultivates an appreciation for well-chosen words.
… Poets like to rearrange words and rummage about in their mental storehouses to find just the right word that will add an element of surprise or bring a vivid scene to life in their reader’s imagination.
The more our students hear those excellent word choices, the more their own use of words will be shaped.”
Good for ALL Types of Writing
Even if you have no intention of writing poetry yourself someday, I encourage you to try READING it … at least occasionally.
ONE BENEFIT: The quality of writing you do everywhere else in your life will improve. (That includes writing that seems completely unrelated — like business letters and email marketing.)
A few years ago, Grant Faulkner — entrepreneur and prolific author of fiction and essays — shared 10 reasons he thinks all writers of prose should read (and hopefully write) poetry. I’m listing 6 of them here:
🟥 DETAIL – Including details in your writing forces readers to slow down and really pay attention to what you’re saying. And details are one of the most common elements you’ll find in poetry.
🟪 SENSORY ENGAGEMENT – Poets often include expressions that can awaken more than one sense at the same time. (The title of a blog I follow — Imagination Soup — is a good example of this, since normally, you wouldn’t think of these two words as belonging together.)
🟦 BREVITY – Poems are typically much less wordy than articles or stories. Especially haiku — a form of Japanese poetry that consists of just 17 syllables — 5 in the first line, 7 in the second line, and 5 in the third line. (Experimenting with haiku is easier than you might think!)
🟩 EXPLORATION – Writing poetry is very different from writing prose. No outlines needed! (Grant compares poets to jazz musicians because of the way they each play … and experiment … with their art.)
🟧 PLAYFUL – Shel Silverstein (author of Runny Babbit and Falling Up) and Jack Prelutsky (“Ride a Purple Pelican” and “The BALLPOINT PENGUINS”) are great examples of poets who play with words.
🟨 CREATIVE LANGUAGE – Words that are made up (like “Jabberwocky” in Lewis Carroll’s famous poem by that name) or laid out on the page in a creative way (as in “The Mouse’s Tale” in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) or written in ways that “violate the rules” (as in E.E. Cummings’ poetry, which often avoided capital letters) find a perfect home in poetry.
