A Poem A Day Keeps My Misery Away

“When I write, I write of the things I can’t say,
I write of my love on a beautiful day,
When I write, I write of what I’m scared of most,
The words in my head, and the demons who boast.”

Poetry has the power to express. And expression has the power to change.

A poem is a form of literature. It has rhymes and it often tells a tale. I think we can think of poetry as a relationship between a song and a story. Poetry is often romantic; even when it’s not. It says what it has to and one is left feeling a lot of things. I think that is why poetry is as revered as it is — because it has the power to make us feel.

When we’ve run around enough, and have to run more, when we have settled into the world and yet feel out of place, when we have a thousand things to say but we don’t know how, poetry comes in to give us a break, to give us a place and to sing to us.

‘Poetry Day’ is a celebration of this phenomenon called poetry. I am calling it a phenomenon because much like love (which too is best expressed through poetry), poetry also happens and it can strongly impact our minds. Reading mismatched words and jumbled up sentences written that way to rhyme, can be calming and cathartic at the same time.

It can give a person motivation, like Stephen Dunn’s “Always Something More Beautiful” has lines that say,

“I had come to believe what’s beautiful
had more to do with daring
to take yourself seriously, to stay
the course, whatever the course might be.”

Or these lines from “Naturally” (also Stephen Dunn) that can give hope,

“… and no matter how sad a few people might feel,
I know joy will be holding out
in some muscled corner of their hearts.”

Reading “Past and Future” by Sarojini Naidu or “Acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost after a tiring day or reading Edgar Allen Poe or Emily Dickinson after a break up are generally things that keep me going.

So now tell me, which poem or poet keeps you going? Classic or modern, sad or whimsical, even written or spoken — poetry is beautiful in every form. Which do you prefer? Tell us in the comments!