The Most Important Step Of The Poetry Writing Process.
A room full of seasoned writers and poets were leaning forward in their seats listening to the “Writing for Change” social justice panel taking place at the NC Writers Conference, a prestigious and secretive event held annually from writers across North Carolina. On the panel were Diya Abdo, Joseph Bathanti, Barbara Conrad and L. Teresa Church.
I was there to sit on the “Out of the Box” spoken word panel with Dasan Ahanu, Ashley Lumpkin and Josephus III. Our panel was last, so I got to kick back as an audience member until it was our turn. Each panel had a Q&A portion and they had just opened up the floor.
A woman behind me raised her hand.
“Do you have any advice on self care in the steps of the writing process?”
Former Poet Laureate Joseph Bethanti grabbed the mic with a smile.
Joseph has a knack for grabbing attention due to his passion for poetry. Whatever he was about to say was going to be important. I was ready to write it down.
“Listen…”
He said laughing.
“I’ve heard about how we suffer, we sit down at the typewriter and bleed, all that crap, but I ain’t buying it. Here’s the truth... There’s no suffering in the act of writing. It’s all a form of healing. We all need to stop pretending like we don’t like it.”
It took everything in me not to jump up and do a high kick yelling
“YAAAASSSSSSSS! JOSEPH YAASSSSSSSS!”
As a Poetry Mentor it had been a hard conference for me, regardless of how good the panels were.
That morning I heard writers say:
“I stopped writing for 25 years, just couldn’t pay the bills or lost interest.”
“I didn’t find any enjoyment in what I was doing at the time.”
“I didn’t have the time to write.”
One poet said he put the pen down for 35 years.
35 YEARS!
It’s the most heartbreaking thing I ever heard a poet say.
Here’s the simple, yet most important aspect about writing that is commonly overlooked:
When we think about how a poet starts writing a poem, most writers don’t give enough care into the touch of inspiration kicking the whole thing off. They focus on how to write the first line or what form is more appropriate.
Nothing is more important than the EXPERIENCE you have when writing.
If you want to know how to be happy instantly in your work, what makes a good poem instead of a bad one, how to sustain your poetry or how the creative process plays the biggest part in poem construction... Developing a relationship to the Muse is the answer.
No other stages of your writing process sustain you long term and nothing else is going to help you grow more as a poet and a person.
Writing every day isn’t going to do it.
Why?
You can write every day but if you aren’t enjoying what you write or getting excited about what you wrote, you’re just digging yourself into a hole filled with disappointed clutter.
Prompts and inspirational quotes aren’t going to do it. If you aren’t engaged with your senses, all you can do is skim the surface of a concept.
No other tool in your poetry kit you have or can acquire is going to give you deeper insight and keep you excited like full body experiences when you connect to an ever present stream of inspiration.
No publications or awards will keep you married to the work, inspired and cultivating joy because accolades are an outside source, not controlled by you and not guaranteed.
If you aren’t enjoying what you do you will quit, no matter how strong you started and it could take years to get back to it, leaving you with a period of your life where you felt lost without purpose.
Your relationship to the Muse (aka this world) is the most vital aspect to your writing process.
PERIOD.
If you don’t feel like your entire body lights up…
I’m talking tickling your toes kind of lit up…
Then you’re missing out on fulfillment, inspiration, self discovery and joy.
And your beliefs on that connection matter. When Joseph said…
“We all need to stop pretending like we don’t like it.”
That mental shift is a tipping point for a life of wonder and expansion in your writing.
Picture the Muse as a person you have an intimate relationship with.
If you want them to be around but are complaining it’s not the right time, find yourself saying “I have nothing to talk about” or say their presence is a form of hardship, they’re going to hide from you.
I’ll just see myself out…
All poets crave the “Divine Download.” For many those moments are few and far between.
Moments when you’re bursting with excitement over a new concept and poems that make your eyes shine when you read back over them. You can’t wait to call a fellow poet and share.
Many poets have bought into the myth that these Divine Downloads only occur when the time is right, INSTEAD of being accessible whenever we want.
How’s that possible?
By tapping into the pulse of life and treating the Muse like it’s the best thing since cafe lattes hit counter tops.
When you treat inspiration like a rarity, you’re not being proactive and training your brain to separate what is meaningful from what isn’t.
EVERYTHING is meaningful.
There’s no place on this earth that isn’t sacred.
Every blade of grass, every person on the street, every light reflecting off a semi down the highway. There’s meaning in everything.
Explore this world with a childlike curiosity.
Children learn through interaction.
A child knows sand is grainy because they sat down in it. They grabbed a handful and saw how the light sparkled across each gain and watched it slip through their fingers.
You need to commune with the world in that way.
You want to be instilling a practice of awareness in your surroundings, your body when it reacts to what you’re witnessing and listening to what this world is trying to tell you every single day.
You want to be tuned in so you can get turned on.
Allow yourself to be accessible to the Muse 24/7 by asking “Where is the poem?” every chance you get.
Even if you don’t write anything, because it’s the practice of experiencing that wonder, that thrill, that’s the key to a lifelong joyful writing process.
Poetry is always present.
There’s no nook or cranny that doesn’t contain wisdom or inspiration in this life.
The Muse, the spirit, the universe, God, whatever you want to call it, is constantly looking for ways to talk to you.
All you have to do is get still and open up.
The result is going to have you swooning over rain puddles or a lone coffee cup at the back of the cafe or making a meaningful connection with birds outside of your office building while the rest of the world is in awe of you, wondering what it is you see that they don’t.
You see the poetry. In everything.
And the Muse will have her arms around your neck whispering sweet everythangs into your love drunk ear.
But if your mentality is “I have nothing to write about” or “I’m afraid to feel emotions” you’re pushing the Muse away.
You’re standing in front of the most beautiful being in the world, the Muse (which in many ways is a reflection of yourself) saying…
“Ehhh…Not Impressed.”
The Muse is going to take that as a slap in the face.
“All this beauty before you, and you shrug it off? Did you even look?”
Not only does this increase the quality of your poetry and sustain your writing, it offers access to experiencing your life at 100% instead of a measly 40%.
Most people go through life savoring a small amount of what they experience.
They either rush through something to move on to the next thing or get distracted easily.
No wonder this is the norm with social media tugging at our attention, overbearing responsibilities and world news that puts us in information overload.
Hyperfocusing on a subject and surrendering to the moment with your whole being can make you taste food like never before, feel the wind on your skin like you’ve never been touched and make your interactions with fellow human beings more enjoyable, even in uncomfortable situations.
This is because you’re seeing it from the eyes of a poet who practices seeking out conversation with the Muse.
You’ll always gain something from every interaction.
If you’re sitting down with a person who’s more conservative than you and are feeling out of place, you turn from agitated guest into a poetry detective, studying their behavior.
Embody this practice to be an open vessel for the Muse.
Therein lies the descriptive language and detail that spikes your senses into a moment of ecstasy and ease.
You can kiss the myth of writer’s block goodbye forever, stop writing work that isn’t giving you a rush of endorphins that makes your body tingle AND you can fall in love with life by tuning all the way into what’s going on around you.
Let me tell you about a young poet who changed their life…
I held a workshop at Southern Fried Poetry Slam Festival in 2018 on unlocking your senses to be a vessel for the Muse and I warned the poets at the end of the workshop…
“When you leave here and start applying this to your life, the floodgates are going to open. You might feel like a squirrel surrounded by nuts. Just keep your notepad handy and write the connections down as they come. Through hyperfocus you WILL be able to go back and dive in because you’ve paid attention to the details and had a full body experience.”
That statement was a huge relief to poets who get a flash of inspiration, don’t write it down and lose it. If your senses are unlocked and you’re tuned in through hyperfocus, you won’t lose it. The experience of the connection is so powerful that you don’t forget it.
That evening a poet who attended my workshop approached me and took my hand in his.
“You weren’t kidding. It’s like I’ve been walking through life with one eye open. I can’t stop writing. It’s incredible. Thank you so much for this.”
There’s no reason that any poet should be putting the pen down for 2 or 25 years.
I don’t care what’s going on in your life, how many babies you gotta feed or what job is busting your back.
There’s no reason you should keep writing pages of work you aren’t excited about.
I’m not being a hardass...
I want to save you years of frustration, book opportunities passing you by, grant you the revenue possible from releasing work you care about and help you share the poetry you uncover in how only your voice can.
You don’t have to stay numb, opening up doesn’t have to be painful and just 5 minutes of practicing being present can make a difference in your life.
Below is a hyperfocus technique to get you started.
This is the entry level step to what I do as a poetry mentor that can have a powerful impact on your life.
Download the exercise and put it into practice TODAY to create deeper meaning in your life and heighten your sense of awareness.
I don’t ever want to hear you say you can’t write…
There’s beauty and wonder right in front of you, lean in, look closer, reach out and touch it.
