Why should you write poetry? Who reads it? Why waste your time? Writing poetry is therapeutic for me, it releases feelings in me that almost nothing else releases. When I began writing poetry, I was not sure that it was poetry. But I threw it onto some poetry websites, and other people, much more knowledgeable than I, who are poets, began to read it, comment on it, and let me know that they thought it was poetry. I choose to believe them, because for about thirty years I had stopped writing, When I was not writing, I felt sad and gloomy. Writing down my feelings again has made me happy. It has excited me; it has given me a voice. Also, when you are writing poetry, you are naturally reading poetry, and poems elevate me, they lift me up, they make me think outside my boxes.
Some naysayers are not happy with my poetry; this is okay. I am not writing it for their pleasure, I am writing it for mine. Some people are super critical. There was once a time in my life where that would really have bothered me. This is not that time. Some people have written little comments or emails to me – things they said were meant to shut me down, silence me, make me feel bad, or mad. Luckily, my supporters, my loyal readers, my joyful, happy, poetic soul-sisters and soul-brothers have elevated me in such a remarkable loving way, that the naysayers do not bother me. Their critiques are read, but not internalized. They cannot shake my happiness tree.
When I was not writing, when I had shut down this vital in-touch side of my soul, I was not fully living my spiritual life. I felt sad, depressed, and I was easily bored. Worse, I became easily enraged, as I had no place to put the sad feelings that sometimes take me by surprise. I have been loved, encouraged, and spiritually uplifted by other poets. Writing has become a compulsion now. I live my truth through my poetry.
The more these on-earth-angel-readers build me up, the more I write, and the more I write, the more they build me up. I do not have thousands of followers; I do not have a hundred followers. I have seventy-three followers, and I know their names, and I know their stories, and I read their poems. We are in this together, my new friends and I. Good writing should compel the reader to keep reading. My missives are compelling to people who like my style. I know who they are; they have become my tribe. I write to please me, and I write to please them
If I did not feel supported and loved, I would not write at all. That is what happened before, which is why I gave it up for thirty years. My writing did not feel appreciated back then. It feels appreciated now. I have found my tribe; I have found my audience. It is such a great audience, that I have turned myself inside out, making myself vulnerable. I have begun to share my life stories – stories of anger and pain. I am sharing my truth which is why I write. If you think that writing could be therapeutic for you, please do it. When you share glimpses of your world, you discover parts of yourself that others need to see. Best of all, sometimes you need to see it also. This is why I write.