Hey ya’ll, hope you are doing well and staying safe š
If you follow me on instagram, you might’ve noticed that I’ve been posting a lot of poetry lately. I actually started off writing poems, and then from there wrote songs, stories, and then blog posts. For awhile, I had gravitated away from writing poems, but have recently renewed my love for them. And because poetry has become such a big part of my life again, and I even have a freelance poetry gig available, I wanted to do some creative writing on the subject. So, let’s get right into it. Hope you guys enjoy!
Why I Love Poetry
Words have always been my thing. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t creating stories, writing elegies in my head, or daydreaming about a world I had created. So when I was in my teen years, I started writing poems.
Poetry was a way for me to process the world around me. I could release all of the feelings and thoughts I had down on paper, and then proceed to sort them out later. It was as if I was doing a long winded, romanticized brain dump. So naturally, these poems were not at all linear or logical. But it helped me get through the day. I still have most of those poems written down in ether a notebook or the notes app, and I still don’t even know what was going on in my mind when I wrote them.
As most people did, I initially learned about poetry in school. But because it was SCHOOL and not just LEARNING I grew to hate poetry. I hated having to memorize a whole three page poem to have to recite in front of the class, or to copy down word for word for a test. I have found that to be the case with almost everything I learned in school. Once I was out of that enviornment, and learned about it on my own, I grew to love it. I started to find poets who I could relate to, and who’s work have continued to influence my writing style. I would see the brutal, sarcastic honesty of Charles Bukowski, how he wrote what he felt and didn’t care if you liked it or not. I read Victoria Erickson’s poetry, and how she wrote in free verse, something I wasn’t familiar with until then. How Tyler Knott Gregson used scraps of random papers to write with his typewriter, Langston Hughes wrote poems to be accompanied with music, and Emily Dickinson wrote about life and love while also being a virtual recluse.
This in turn, made me start to explore poetry again. But I would then enter a dark period of my life, where creative endeavors would be put on hold for a while. I don’t remember all that happened in those years, but I do know that I came out a stronger, kinder person. And that’s fantastic, it’s just that I wish I hadn’t stopped creating. That had to be put on hold because I had to work through a lot of feelings. And somewhere in the middle of that, I did start creating again, just not in the same way as I had before. I didn’t write poetry as much, but instead focused on the stories in my head and the songs I would sing.
But not too long ago, I went into a Barnes And Noble, and stumbled once again on the poetry section (which should be a lot bigger). I looked through the shelves, to find my favorite poet: Victoria Erickson. I flipped through the book, reading the pages. And something clicked. It was as if I was transported back to the hopeless romantic writing poetry on her bedroom floor. The girl who loved dreary skies, wildflowers, and and folklore. The girl who wrote sad prose, but also knew how to be happy and love life. But that person had grown in so many ways, and all for the better. I saw that part of myself that I had missed, and saw how she could finally fit into the person I now was. That you could be a hopeless romantic, write sad or reflective prose, and still be the best version of yourself. You could love the rain and the weeds, and still be miss sunshine. And so I bought that book so that I could nurture that love. I don’t think that Victoria Erickson will ever know the impact she has had on my writing, and how reading her poems renewed my love for poetry as a whole.
And so after a couple weeks, I sat back down at my desk, and wrote a new poem. It felt foreign at first, but became natural after the first two attempts. I think of poetry as songwriting without the music. In fact, some of my favorite songs I have written have been inspired by poems I wrote. How a poem about an abandoned, grey house that looked creepy and as if it was haunted, was in fact, beautiful on the inside, filled with flowers and kept up nicely, could turn into a song about how you can feel invisible, but have worth and others can help you see that. Or how a song about a girl drowning her thoughts in a coffee cup can turn into a song about a short lived love connection and what could have been. And even how a song about trying to confess your feelings to your crush can become your favorite song you’ve ever written. And with that, I was writing poetry again.
And that love, that hopeless romantic, that girl who wrote elegies in her head, is back, but better than she was before. She is stronger, capable of great things, and above all, happy. She can be both, and that’s a beautiful thing to realize.
And now I am sharing that love of poems with others. As I mentioned before, I started posting my poems to my instagram account. And now I even have a poetry gig on Fiverr where I will write a poem for you.
And that’s the story of how my love of poetry came back, and why it’s so important to me.
And with all that being said, I actually wrote a poem to go with this post. Yeah, I just had to.
The Rebirth of A Hopeless Romantic
She was a girl full of monsters
And things that little children are afraid of
She had a dark cloud surrounding her, and carried the weight of the world wherever she would go.
This girl was also a fighter, learning how to use a sword.
Always learning.
Always growing.
Always fighting.
Some battles were lost, and others won.
She was a girl who survived the storms, and swam across the rocky waters.
They tossed and turned, destroying anything in their path.
But she somehow stayed afloat.
As she reached the other side, she saw a glow of light, a flicker of hope.
And as she got closer, the light grew, and everything around her-
the flowers, the scenery, the grass beneath her feet-
Started to grow.
And as she looked around her, something inside of her changed.
That dark cloud was no longer above her.
The weight of the world had been lifted.
Her dark clothing was now a beautiful, cream dress,
like something straight out of a fairytale.
Her worn out eyes and tired face were no longer so, instead her eyes were rose colored, and her face had a glow to it, as if she had been reborn.
Her hair began to take on itās natural form again, and a flower crown was placed on top.
She was different now, but in a good way.
The storms and the battles did not destroy her, but made her more beautiful than she couldāve ever imagined.
They did not kill her, but helped her grow stronger and taller than before.
They did not damage her, but helped her find herself again.
And now she is rebirthed, ready for what awaits her next.
-Tori Dail
And that’s it for this post! Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. If you want more information about my poetry gig, you can visit my fiver account to learn more:
I’ll also be sending an email with more information on the different styles of poetry I offer, and how you can contact me for any writing gigs. Make sure that you are subscribed to my email newsletter so that you can see that email.
Until next time š
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