Poetry as Reclamation: Expressing the Unsaid in a Silent World
Author: Claudelle Abdo, Registered Psychotherapist
Poetry is not just about writing, it’s about Reclamation.
The world we live in has made it more and more difficult to create spaces and time to express what has been unsaid, and poetry creates the ability to make noise in a, sometimes, soundproof world - cascading the screaming sound of silence of our thoughts, emotions, and experiences.
Unlocking Emotional Movement Through Words
In the same way dance and movement can help us move emotional experiences that have been locked and enclosed into our muscles, poetry and creative writing can create tidal waves of movement in our psyche’s and minds that we hesitate, fear, or simply don’t know how to process, understand or express.
Poetry allows us to process our emotions and thoughts in a way that profoundly moves us, and the people who also connect with the poetry itself. That is some of the beauty that poetry offers, it creates reciprocal meaning from the writer, and the reader, and simultaneously creates connection and catharsis in the midst of perspective taking and meaning making.
Connecting with Our Inner Selves
We get to connect with ourselves in ways we never thought we could, from angles that feel young and come from corners of our minds that we cant access without the movement of poetry, to places and parts of ourselves that feel older than our hearts, beyond generations of our lineage that echo similar words, patterns, and symbols.
Reclaiming Control Through Expression
Writing the unsaid is a reclamation process. In a world where us humans like to believe we control, and can predict and influence based on the decisions we make, or how skilled we are or how logical we can problem solve, poetry is a gesture to accepting and taking pride in that our experiences are ours to hold, and ours to re-write. These are the ways that actual power and control can be enacted; once we give ourselves permission to surrender to the world, and acknowledge that our lives, and the experiences we continuously move through, happen randomly. Writing allows us to take control of the emotional processing, and the way that we relate to our inner experience and the experience itself.
Exploring the Hidden Corridors of the Mind
In a lot of my practice, I consider the importance of meaning making whether that be through grief, sadness, inner turmoil or inner conflict, or making amends with the parts of us we kept away, felt shameful or disapproving of, that we rejected.
Poetry, in all of millennia, has given us a space to investigate the rooms, hallways and corridors in ourselves and our minds that we have kept the lights off, in, and barricaded. Metaphors, alliterations, personification, hyperboles, repetition – I could keep going on; are approaches to expression that give winds and breathe to the hallways and rooms we’ve kept shut, without making it our home forever.
Poetry as a Temporary Home
Poetry is like a temporary home we get to visit that we feel complicated about – to re-negotiate parts of ourselves with ourself, and to then, just maybe, find the glimmers and beauty of what we’ve hidden, been nervous to share or have feared acknowledging or feeling with ourselves, and/or others. Poets have the honour of overcoming stigma, of normalizing human suffering and of validating what it means to be a part of the human condition. This cultivation of global and collective empathy and compassion is something that we need in our world right now, more than we ever have.
A Personal Haven of Self-Expression
On a personal level, poetry for me has acted like an inhaler in moments where rooms felt they were enclosing, and the locks had seemed to have abandoned their keys. Being able to process through introspection, and follow the symbols, metaphors and movement of what I write, and have written, has not only provided me clarity, but also an outlet to be able to express emotions and thoughts in a way that has felt authentic, pure, and self-compassionate. It created connections to myself and others when rooms felt cold and empty, and cultivated a sense of self-acceptance and wander into myself and the parts of me that had been once dismissed, pushed away by shame or by fears around the thought of others ‘seeing’ me or what lives in me; but has taught me that risking vulnerability will always bring acceptance, closeness and intimacy in places I would have never considered looking before or that I thought was possible.
Encouraging Creative Self-Discovery
I encourage the people I work with to play with the senses, imagery and the meanings attached to their experiences in order to surrender themselves to the idea that the human condition is random, unpredictable by nature, and innately good. Not only does this build awareness, but using poetic approaches to therapy creates a completely different way of understanding ourselves, and promotes the idea of continuous self-reflection that doesn’t feel ‘positively toxic’ or like a standard catch phrase. Not saying these aren’t helpful for many, but they are not the only ways to promote insight, or encouragement for introspection.
Using softness, self expression and creativity in introducing ourselves to parts of ourselves helps our brains connect to itself in ways it typically wouldn’t, which also brings us to see our experiences, and who we are, in a different perspective. Yoga and meditation is immensely helpful; and not always the place where everybody can and feels comfortable starting or working towards.
Immersing in the Experience
Sitting in the temperature, colour, shape and sound or movement of an experience allows us to immerse ourselves into the process of the experience our brain decides is ‘best’ for our survival to not approach; yet using all of these considerations in therapy with your clinician that you trust, gives you the permission to show the parts of yourselves, and your body, that you can indeed move into these experiences and processes to show yourself that you are indeed safe, and can even create meaning and beauty out of it by reclaiming that experience and make it your own, that only you, own and can re-write.
A Call to Reclaim and Express
Reclaim yourself. Scream and express the unsaid as loudly as possible. Connect deeply. Cry violently. Hold yourself lovingly and gracefully. Allow your thoughts and emotions to dance on the pages or on your keyboard. Write confused. Write angry. Write in despair, and write in your joy and gratitude.
Create control in a world that we can’t control, and re-introduce yourself, to yourself every time you surrender to the emotional untangling that happens when you create meaning out of something you thought you never could.
Let us move through you, and risk the vulnerability it takes to create intimacy with yourself, others, and the world. Express for those who cannot, stand and advocate for communities who will never have the chance to, and give yourself the acquiescence to say, ‘It’s okay’ and, ‘I will move through this, too’.
My Poetry
Disclaimer:
This article is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice or a substitute for professional consultation. It's important to seek help from a qualified mental health professional. They can provide you with a personalized diagnosis, treatment plan, and support to manage your symptoms effectively.