Poetry: Working the Inner World

‘There’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money, either.’ Robert Graves

‘A poem begins with a lump in the throat.’ Robert Frost

When I went to West Kent College in the 80’s – yes, that was a long time ago – I enrolled to do Maths, more as an attempt to please my father, which would forever be a waste of time. I remember the cold sweat of watching the maths teacher writing lines of algebra from one side of the blackboard to the other, not having a clue what it meant, or really wanting to.

I had to take a third A Level and I soon took flight to the English Department, where I was given a poem to read and answer questions about. I read that page of nonsensical blurb and the cold sweat once again returned. More out of blind panic than anything else I read and re-read it maybe seven or ten times. I had to get on that course! I found that I gradually made sense of it and actually really appreciated its deep philosophical message. I answered most of the questions but couldn’t complete them all in the allotted hour, after which the Head of Department whisked my paper away to have a read. I thought I was doomed. I had interpreted this poem from the heart and in so doing I thought that I’d blown it and maybe misunderstood its meaning. Five minutes later he came back and said that my answers were fine. More than that, he led me straight to the English Language and Literature Class for my first lesson. I loved that poem and so wish I had kept it – we had journeyed together.

To this day I don’t read much poetry but I do write from time to time: it’s cathartic and helps me to vent my spleen. It doesn’t have to rhyme either, though I prefer to write poems that do. Poetry became more potent for me when I went on a ‘writing for recovery’ workshop, as a way of working through the mental meat-grinder of anxiety and depression some years back. I would recommend this to anyone, along with writing in a journal every day if possible. I’ve always liked Haiku and you can always write simple 15 word poems as well, if the mood takes you. Don’t worry if you’ve written a load of crap; I have before, so keep writing!

Copyright ? 2017 by Richard K Potter BA Hons PGCE MA www.creativity4wellbeing.com and www.richardkpotter.wixsite.com/richard