One of the ways to find a way into yourself, is by “placing yourself inside someone else.” By that I mean, put yourself in someone else’s shoes, visualize living their life, facing their problems, knowing their pain. I expect that, to try and put ourselves into the personas of the average person living in today’s Ukraine, would be a very difficult task. I know it is for me.
I have never known the horrors of war firsthand. I have never heard bombs dropping out of the sky, or tanks barreling down the streets I grew up knowing as home. I have never stood at a train station, waiting for a train to take me and others I love to safety, only to have bombs tear everything about me to bits.
But, as poets, one of the things that enables us to write honest, meaningful poetry, is to experience, through our imagination if that is the only way, the things we wish to write about. How to write about the sound of the ocean, if we have never heard it or, how to write about the feel of fear, if we have never known it.
This is where the wonders and endless possibilities of the imagination come into play. Like diving off a cliff into deep waters, we must dive into ourselves and imagine ourselves in that place, feeling those feelings, we wish to write about.
To truly capture a feeling, we must attempt to know the feeling, own it, believe it, give into it. So, today’s lesson is to choose something that touches you deeply, something you have never really experienced, and make it your own experience through the writing of the poem. Perhaps you would choose to write about what it feels like to be living in the cities and towns of Ukraine today.
Here are some possible ideas for putting yourself into the experience:
The horrors of being caught up in a war.
The feeling of being lost and alone.
Terrifying fear for your very life and the lives of those you love.
Finding a courage, you didn’t know you had.
I would be honored if you would share your poems with me at www.poetladykatz.com by clicking on the Chat Room option and sending your poem to me there.