Believe it or not, I’m really bad when it comes to dealing with emotions
Something happens
and I try at all costs to deal with it in a neutral, non-emotional, matter-of-fact way
I try to stay calm
I gather facts
I try to sort my thoughts
And even if I seem cool on the outside– inside of me everything is upside down
One of my fav ways to channel my emotions (or make them visible) is poetry
So for today, I just want you to make your emotions visible in a poem- maybe in the wake of what happened in Paris or about something else that is bothering you or makes you happy or sad – whatever–
Use your poem as a vehicle, an outlet, a mirror for your emotions
Use metaphors to clothe your emotions if that helps
How does it feel? Find an image
Don’t generalize – better use one single very concrete image than ten unspecific ones
Avoid stereotypes
Use a form if that helps
Be honest
Write about YOUR emotions – not someone else’s – not your neighbor’s, not the world’s, not your nation’s – just yours
Happy Thanksgving to those who are celebrating this week
See you out on the trail
Claudia
dVerse 
smiles
nice to be back in the pub
it’s been a while
happy thanksgiving week everyone!
Nice to have you back… Do I smell paint?
hehehe – maybe it’s paint – maybe it’s poetry
you can never be sure
smiles
Painting with words 🙂
I really liked this.. I think you are right, poetry is about emotions… I just find dark emotions so much easier to describe… so through my poetry I sound like a pretty dark personality… But I’m usually quite happy.
that is interesting – have to think about what i find easier to write about…
If you get the darkness out of you through your poetry, then it doesn’t fester inside you … so then you can still be a truly happy person, even if you write as if you’re not. I’m the same way.
Ah, Claudia….so good to see you behind the bar.
thanks mary…
I agree with Bjorn about dark emotions. Maybe we are embarrassed to expose our tender ones for some reason.
Maybe it’s just like peace… it’s easier to write against the horrors of war, than simply love for peace.. Maybe you have to see the dark to appreciate light.
Exactly!
I think you’re right.
I’m always afraid of my poetry getting too emotional, too ‘confessional’ (that dreaded word, although I read somewhere recently that all poetry is a confession to a certain extent). So I smother it in layers, till it gets really cryptic at times. Of course, with dVerse I’ve felt freer to just post first drafts, so the emotion comes out raw and unvarnished at times. A freeing experience – or do I mean cathartic?
I think some emotions seems OK to confess, in reality my real feelings are much more ambiguous… and at first I wanted to write a poem about that, but I really couldn’t .. and it feels almost shameful not to have a clear emotion…
I don’t know about confessing them, but I do believe what one poet told me: that the best poetry comes from that dangerous territory where we barely dare to venture. That’s the fertile land we have to mine, even if we express things slant.
I like that idea, MarinaSofia….seems true to me really. If we manage to get into that ‘dangerous territory’ and go with the flow that results, I think this takes away some of triteness of feeling that we sometimes manage to produce.
If I am understanding you how you mean it….
it made me think of how sometimes I want to write about something too private. So I write about something else vague, so I know the secret, and it has much depth but the reader does not know what the origin was
Interesting, Pleasant Street. Sometimes I have sensed this kind of thing in people’s poetry. I have sensed that there is much more there than the poet is saying on the surface of the poem. I really liked the way you have expressed this…that sometimes the poet knows the ‘secret’ behind the poem.
ha – i often clothe my poems in layers as well to camouflage a bit – maybe not well enough though… smiles
I have had a lot of loss and violence in my past and I didn’t write for many years. So sometimes the words just tumble out freely, very emotionally. In life we can’t always share, we must work and be civil, and not throw tantrums! But the words are our own. Poetry is very emotional for me and much like therapy.
for me poetry has this therapeutic aspect as well – helps me to deal with things
I’m always hesitant about delving into deep emotions, afraid of turning people off/away. I’ve always been tightly wrapped – it’s like my daily weather report is: cold and sunny. The internal weather report varies – sunny and warm, grey and rainy, cold and stormy. But almost always outside – sunny and cold or warm. When a long term relationship returned to Japan to live, at the airport, I kissed him on the cheek, wished him well, and walked away. Tightly wrapped. So this prompt was hard for me.
Sometimes the metaphor helps.. if it’s really personal, it can be dressed up… like the torn pages from a telephonebook in Tranströmer’s poetry.
wow – just read yours – a wonderful use of metaphor
And Claudia – so good to have you back behind the bar!!! You have been most def missed. Hugs!!
hugs back
Jeez. Could you make this any harder. 😉
This is pretty much the opposite of everything I’m capable of doing.
it’s getting late already over here and as i’m more a morning- than an evening person it’s bedtime for me.. will check back early in the morning to read those that joined overnite… see you then… and happy writing & reading
Good night, Claudia!
Goodnight Claudia, Bedtime soon here as well…
Personally I have trouble dressing things up…as Bjorn mentioned. I have trouble writing too metaphorically really. I think my poems are pretty much transparent. KB said on my poem that I should have used more metaphor. Sigh. But I realize that, for the most part, writing metaphorically is not how I write. If there is a subject that I don’t want ‘out there’ I don’t disguise it in obscurity or metaphor……I just don’t write it..period. Different styles I guess. It bothers me if I read a poem and can’t figure out the meaning, as it is so layered in metaphoric language. Mine are never that way, which may be a plus or a minus. LOL.
I think that a well done metaphor shouldn’t be obscure at all… sometimes it should shine with a brilliance, just because it conveys emotions so much stronger… but I know how often I fail to do it…
As I said above the most common feeling I have is ambiguity… and I wrote a small piece about that… hopefully it makes sense.
Hi Claudia, I am so happy to see you hosting today. I really like the subject but feel so conflicted since right now we are deep in preparation for Thanksgiving Day and the guests we will be receiving. I doubt that I will be able to participate today or for open link night, but when things calm down a bit I do hope to write to the prompt for a future OLN. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Victoria.
You too, Mary. Are you cooking? David makes a huge production of it…beginning Sunday. I am the cleaner-upper…dang. And the decorator.
Ha, yes – I am the one who hosts to celebration! I am in charge of the turkey breast; but I have others who are in charge of different parts of the meal – thankfully! I always enjoy Thanksgiving, perhaps even more than the Christmas meal.
Sounds like a good way to share the work…David thrives on his cooking prowess…not so much for me and the dirty dishes…all day for a week…but yummy. Have fun.
happy thanksgiving victoria
i do hope that one day i’ll get the chance to join a thanksgiving dinner – would be so cool
Consider yourself invited, dear lady. :0)
Hey everyone,
Hope you are having a wonderful week so far, sharing my poem “Consequences”.. I thought this was a good opportunity to write down my feelings about the attacks in Paris.
Thank you Claudia for a wonderful prompt 🙂 good to see you!
Lots of love,
Sanaa
lots of love back – will be over in a minute
Thanks Claudia for hosting ~ For me, if its too deep and personal, I would rather keep it to myself ~ I think its really a challenge to write about one’s emotions out in the open ~ I am on a writing break but will visit in a bit ~
enjoy the writing break grace
probably i’m on a writing break as well again from tomorrow on… too many things going on in my life right now that need my attention
good morning
first snow here overnite – woot!!
so magical
on my way to read your poems!
ok – off to work – will check back in the evening
happy wednesday everyone!
The gift of poetry is as vehicle and receptacle for our most powerful emotions.
Indeed.. but some are more difficult to express than other…
I find it incredibly difficult to express my emotions in poetry, and shy away with humour or simply story-telling. The nearest I have come to letting it all flood out was my immediate reaction to the Paris events so I have linked the sonnet written that day. And I resolve to try and dig more deeply for my poetry.
I think humor could actually hide a lot of emotions… it can be just as good as any metaphor…
100% agree! Words – always therapy, they – vibrations we need to feel in the balance. We un/consciously choosing our only words…metaphors…hmmmm…I believe it’s depends on what clears we’re using in our life, how we dream about next day: images, colors, smells, ideas.? all of these are reflecting on the style we express in our writing…Thanks for hosting, Claudia. Happy Thanksgiving to all who’s celebrating the holiday!
good evening… back home from work and catching up now
Claudia, thank you for a great prompt. I am so filled with different feelings that it would take a book of poetry so I challenged myself by writing a senryu. Happy Thanksgiving!
smiles
happy thanksgiving to you as well
about to start my reading round
need a coffee first though – ha
Coffee must come first!
I can’t believe the expiration for this was 46 seconds ago! Oh well.
You can find me at: https://purplepeninportland.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/i-wont-dance-to-your-song/
oh computer playing up, slowed me down so I missed the deadline but found the topic inspirational – thank you!
https://telltaletherapy.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/in-my-sky-at-twilight/
Laura, feel free to link it up on our updated post, OpenLinkNight, where any poem will do ~ Thanks Laura ~
OK thank you Grace – a twilight poem is supposed to be late!
https://telltaletherapy.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/in-my-sky-at-twilight/