Poetry Refreshes the Soul

Poetry refreshes my soul. I wouldn’t have said that a new years ago but have discovered both reading and writing poems awakes something deep inside of me, stirs my creativity, bonds my love to play with words and actually helps me capture moments of my life I may have missed otherwise.  Poems heal.

Our Bible is full of poetry. The Spirit is very poetic.

On my table next to where I sit with God with morning is a collection of poetry books from Mary Oliver, Macrina Wiederkehr, Maya Angelou, Joyce Rupp, and Padraig O’Tuama.  I have long been a fan of Robert Lewis Stevenson and Robert Frost.  Every day I get an email from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer with a new poem.  I am in awe of new young poets like Amanda Gorman.

Here’s one of my favorites, for an example:

Don’t Hesitate by Mary Oliver

“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be.

We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left.

Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty.

Joy is not made to be a crumb.”

Writing my Own Poetry

A new spiritual practice for me beginning last year is writing a poem a day. I don’t force them; I just more freely, creatively write, usually early in the day describing something I am experiencing or feeling.  To be honest, I never thought of myself as a poet so this was a new adventure for me and I am glad I entered into this practice.

In 2023, I didn’t write 365 poems as I missed some holidays and vacation days and plan just forgot a few days, but I have wrestled with words and played with various forms of poems that capture ordinary moments in my life. These poems complemented my journaling and I found more “musical” than my prose. Could writing poems hear melodies within my heart I missed before?

I plan to continue dancing with words in the form of poetry into 2024. I sense at some point I will revisit last year’s, edit them, and maybe print them out for myself as a keepsake, but most are not publishable or shareable.

Have you ever tried this practice of writing a poem a day?  Here is an article I recently read that could give you some ideas.

I experimented with this fun way to create a poem method that comes from Imaginative Writing by Janet Burroway. You end up with a three-line poem using this template:

• Line 1: abstraction + verb + place
• Line 2: describe attire
• Line 3: summarize an action

In 2024 I hope to have some of the poems more like prayers in the form of a collect. The structure of a collect – a short simple prayer – starts with a name of God, then expanding on that name, then one request, adding a few details to describe that request, then ending with an Amen, or may it be so.

I also am rereading the book, Poetic Medicine – the Healing Art of Poem-making by John Fox to find more unique approaches to this practice.

Creative. Expressive. Meaning-finding. Life-giving. Connecting with God – many reasons to write and read poetry.

Do you write poetry? Who is your favorite poet? What do you think of poetry as a spiritual practice?