{"id":4565,"date":"2021-05-03T13:09:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T13:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/?p=4565"},"modified":"2021-05-03T13:09:10","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T13:09:10","slug":"writing-poetry-why-do-we-write","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing poetry: Why do we write?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t usually “get” poetry. I secretly scoffed at my friends in undergrad who called themselves poets. The Poetry Club seemed like a contest to out-pretentious and out-angst one another. As a reader, I usually prefer prose. It makes sense; I don’t usually have to guess at anyone’s meaning. But poetry is a different beast altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo by \u00c1lvaro Serrano<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Poetry is an opaque blend of words, phrases, rhyme, and rhythm. Sense is forsaken in favor of feeling.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s why, perhaps, when the world stops making sense and my emotions rage, I pick up a pen and find myself writing (to my initial horror) poetry. I try to make meaning of the loose phrases and imagery haphazardly thrown onto my blank page in this state. And by the end, even if the world is still in chaos, the act of writing provides me respite, and I feel as though I start piecing myself back together.<\/span><\/p>\n

Writer <\/span>Marge Piercy<\/span><\/a> describes writing poetry as meditation. \u201cThe stray images and thoughts that the meditator blows away are the rich suggestive stuff of poems. Every little gnat of irrelevancy may turn out to be what the poem is really about,\u201d she wrote in <\/span>The New York Times<\/span><\/a> column “Writers on Writing” in 1999.<\/span><\/p>\n

This chaotic process of meaning-making gives me a new language to tackle my feelings head-on.\u00a0To me, this form of writing feels inherently subversive. Rules become playthings, even within the confines of form, when meaning becomes limitless.<\/span><\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t that I\u2019ve given up trying to communicate to an audience. When I write poetry, my communication goals simply shift from story to emotion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The stanza<\/span><\/p>\n

Them back into her body as petals\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Of a rose close when the garden<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

from the poem Edge<\/a> by Sylvia Plath c<\/span>ould be about withdrawing, or the end of a woman\u2019s fertility, or the terminating of a pregnancy, or most likely (pro tip for anything written by Plath) death. But what do you feel looking at that stanza? The rose is taking back her bloom. She\u2019s closing herself from life. Melancholy? Hurt? Power? Strength?<\/span><\/p>\n

Poetry is about the universality of feelings. So this week, I challenge all of you\u2014when finals’ stress feels like you\u2019re going to break, or when the promise of a Covid vaccine gives you an indescribable, elevated, high\u2014take a second and jot down words, phrases, and images that come to mind. And you\u2019ll have a better sense of the world and yourself. We can all be poets.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t usually “get” poetry. I secretly scoffed at my friends in undergrad who called themselves poets. The Poetry Club seemed like a contest to out-pretentious and out-angst one another. … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1531,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,27,46,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cookreads","category-little-free-library","category-poetry","category-rugrat"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWriting poetry: Why do we write? - Books We Read<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Writing poetry: Why do we write? - Books We Read\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I don’t usually “get” poetry. I secretly scoffed at my friends in undergrad who called themselves poets. The Poetry Club seemed like a contest to out-pretentious and out-angst one another. … Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Books We Read\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-03T13:09:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/248\/2021\/04\/alvaro-serrano-hjwKMkehBco-unsplash-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harmony Birch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harmony Birch\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/\",\"name\":\"Writing poetry: Why do we write? - Books We Read\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/248\/2021\/04\/alvaro-serrano-hjwKMkehBco-unsplash-300x200.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-03T13:09:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-03T13:09:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/#\/schema\/person\/a6f12cf248a14e8550bdf863239073a0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/248\/2021\/04\/alvaro-serrano-hjwKMkehBco-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/248\/2021\/04\/alvaro-serrano-hjwKMkehBco-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Photo by \u00c1lvaro Serrano on Unsplash\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Writing poetry: Why do we write?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/\",\"name\":\"Books We Read\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/#\/schema\/person\/a6f12cf248a14e8550bdf863239073a0\",\"name\":\"Harmony Birch\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cff7c313bb29312de78ae9deed54e00d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cff7c313bb29312de78ae9deed54e00d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Harmony Birch\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/author\/hb375\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Writing poetry: Why do we write? - Books We Read","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Writing poetry: Why do we write? - Books We Read","og_description":"I don’t usually “get” poetry. I secretly scoffed at my friends in undergrad who called themselves poets. The Poetry Club seemed like a contest to out-pretentious and out-angst one another. … Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/","og_site_name":"Books We Read","article_published_time":"2021-05-03T13:09:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/248\/2021\/04\/alvaro-serrano-hjwKMkehBco-unsplash-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"Harmony Birch","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Harmony Birch","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/","name":"Writing poetry: Why do we write? - Books We Read","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/248\/2021\/04\/alvaro-serrano-hjwKMkehBco-unsplash-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2021-05-03T13:09:10+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-03T13:09:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/#\/schema\/person\/a6f12cf248a14e8550bdf863239073a0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/248\/2021\/04\/alvaro-serrano-hjwKMkehBco-unsplash-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/248\/2021\/04\/alvaro-serrano-hjwKMkehBco-unsplash-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"Photo by \u00c1lvaro Serrano on Unsplash"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/writing-poetry-why-do-we-write\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Writing poetry: Why do we write?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/","name":"Books We Read","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/#\/schema\/person\/a6f12cf248a14e8550bdf863239073a0","name":"Harmony Birch","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cff7c313bb29312de78ae9deed54e00d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cff7c313bb29312de78ae9deed54e00d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Harmony Birch"},"url":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/author\/hb375\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1531"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4565"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4570,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4565\/revisions\/4570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}