I often find it difficult to discuss a heavy subject.  Instead of talking about it, I will rehearse and rehearse what I need to say. I ruminate and obsess until I have to write it down.  And it feels good to get it out. I should just begin by writing it down. Poetry can help with processing your emotions. It is powerful.  Poetry should always be written raw. Get it out.  It will feel good to express it and you also get a sense of accomplishment by creating something.

I find that if I write my thoughts on paper with a plan to use it later in a poem, I can take a break from my worries.  And because it is on paper, I can wait until I am ready to share it.  Often it is enough just to get it down.

Revising is a way to avoid thinking in circles.  As your craft your poem, you organize your thoughts and slowly look at it with a new view.

With poetry, we can also write about a small thing as a lead in to feeling..  At an open mic last month, a young woman wrote a poem about room that people that was opulent, but she saw the flaws in it. Then it became apparent that she was talking about some heavy feelings and not the room.

In the poem I am going to share, the first line tells you the small thing I began with.

Song of Loss

Today, in a song

I heard his daughter’s name,

taking me back

to her holding

a towel to his forehead

another to his blistered tongue

his tremulous hand

reaching for mine

eyes blinded by pain.

his path towards death

woven with madness.

With irradiated limbs,

forced to crawl within

and beyond mental illness-

in the eternal moment

surrounded by loved ones

he fell to his knees,

yielded to death alone.

Yet he is with me still.

I yearn to sit with Sally

and talk about him.

No words spoken

yet, we can never be done

with the conversation.

This was a scene I had to record. To express.

And it provided me with the insight that

Paul can still be with me.