Not A Luxury

The other day, I came across a video of Ethan Hawke talking about poetry.

He said something very interesting that caught my attention. He basically said that most people don’t think about poetry in their day-to-day until something happens to them — some change, transformation, heartache, loss, trauma, or intense experience whether negative or positive, and then suddenly they begin to turn to poetry to make sense of what is happening to them (video here, start at 2:00).

This point reminded me of something the former Poet Laureate Joy Harjo shared in her Masterclass on poetic thinking (which I’ve been taking while going on stroller walks with baby Eska). She said that we are taught that we need basic things to survive like food and water, but as humans we need more than food and water to survive, we actually need metaphor.

Metaphor is a type of nourishment. It’s a type of food for the spirit that allows us to survive this difficult, beautiful human experience. Metaphor is a form of expression that allows us to express that which is difficult to express, by turning to comparisons to something else entirely. (I recommend Jane Hirschfield’s TED talk on metaphor for a great explanation of what it is from a poet’s perspective).

I have turned to poetry my entire life but have noticed a recent renaissance while moving through the recent challenges of fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum. Bringing a child into this world is so full of change and uncertainty, that reading and writing poetry has been quite a lifeline, a refuge, and in moments, an escape.

But the truth is we don’t need to go through some high degree of uncertainty in order to turn to poetry, because life is constantly full of change, whether big or small. You may be experiencing a change in a relationship, job, lifestyle, location, home, body, religion, life philosophy, attitude, or consciousness.

You are definitely experiencing some kind of change right now, whether you perceive it or not. And so maybe, for all of us, in this constant state of flux, poetry makes all the sense in the world.

What is your relationship to poetry? Have you turned to it for comfort or inspiration? Have you written poetry off and on throughout the years? Do you feel intimidated by poetry, like you can’t understand it? Do you want to read or write more of it? How do you see this art form weaving into your daily life, into life milestones such as birthdays, holidays, or other rituals that mark transitions in your life?

Feel free to reply and share, would love to hear.

One last thing— a friend of mine told me something that poet David Whyte told him, which was something along the lines of (I’m paraphrasing): it’s time to write your poetry and it doesn’t matter if it’s “bad.”

I found this piece of advice to be quite liberating. I hope you will too.

Until next time,

Majo

P.S. I’ve begun to share some poems via Instagram, and will begin sharing more here on my website and newsletter, along with the occasional wisdom article.

P.P.S. The title of this article is inspired by writer, feminist, and civil rights activist Audre Lorde who wrote: “Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.”