I've been a bit stressed out lately, particularly at work, and in one meeting found myself writing the sort of miserable, self-conscious poetry I last wrote as a misfit teen.
Three meetings I had three more poems (and was still able to make good contributions to business, if you were wondering - I am nothing if not a multi-tasker). They all shared themes of endings, of gloom, time interrupted and, for some reason I have long ceased to try and understand, water.
I used to write a lot of poetry as a teen - is it something that goes hand in hand with haywire hormones, I wonder? I loved to write sonnets in the same way people love to do SoDuKo, the difficulty of fitting the form and working within the pattern appealed to me, somehow. My efforts back then were a lot to do with transformations, isolation, love, and again, time interrupted and water.
And whether it was cathartic, or nostalgic, my recent mid-meeting scribblings really did make me feel better. Perhaps I just needed to write.
Did your adolescent self dabble in odes?
No, my adolescent self wrote reams and reams of gloomy diary entries instead :) I had notebooks full of my outpourings, both in Swedish, English, Spanish and some kind of strange shorthand I was learning at the time (Gregg's?). The latter two was so that my mother and any other nosey people would not be able to read the secret bits, but sadly I've now forgotten how to read that shorthand myself so can't decipher it either! Glad the poetry helped you, Anna!
ReplyDeleteYes, I used to write lots and lots of truly horrific poetry. Think Vogons.
ReplyDeleteI think an outpouring in writing, be it poetry, diary or fiction can be extremely useful in helping deal with feelings. And I'm sure your poetry is actually *good*.
Oh No Christina! It must be so frustrating not to be able to read those old diary entries! That would drive me mad... :)
ReplyDelete*snort* @ Vogons. gmfao. Yes, I think it really helped to 'download'.
Anna