by Dolores Moore

Created on: July 15, 2010

In considering why poetry writing has therapeutic benefits, it is necessary to go back to a time and place when this actually happened.  Then, just by sitting down with a pencil and blank piece of paper, the whole healing process was begun, without my even being fully aware.  No matter what anyone tells you, writing poetry is not easy as compared to prose.  Oh, the worst writers will find a rhyme at the drop of a hat, but that does not make their final creation good poetry.  A writer who wants to create a piece of poetry that expresses their own emotions, while touching others, by using the skill and art of the perfect word, is going to have to work hard.

That hard work is in itself therapeutic.  That blank page is a motivational kick-start, not just asking to be filled, but demanding the correct words, lines, patterns, rhythms, rhymes, imagery, verse form and so on.  Already, the mind is distracted away from what is painful and hurtful, as it becomes completely immersed in making a good poem.  Of course, the subject matter will dictate the emotions to be explored and expressed, but for the sake of therapy, personal experience tells me to go with the pain and excise it.

The body too becomes involved, as eyes, ears, hands and all else become enraptured by the creative process, physically connected to the mental activity.   As the words and pictures form in the mind, then are transcribed to the paper, the voice comes alive to tentatively try the effect of the writer's first efforts.  Some will find themselves standing up and pacing about, scratching the head, peering out of the window, all activities that suggest the search for the exact, right words to make this peom work. 

But perhaps the greatest reason why poetry writing has therapeutic benefits is that it allows for the emotions to be examined, put into the most apt terms,expressed and shared in a sort of catharsis that can only help with emotional distress.  There speaks the voice of experience.  Many of us keep journals for much the same reason, but creating a good poem demands so much more.   We must engage our full intellect as well as re-live painful emotions in order to reap the therapeutic benefits of writing poetry.

And when it is done,  to our dubious satisfaction, we have laid bare the pain and perhaps caused it to lose some of the hurt it engendered.  An even better outcome, to add to the therapeutic value, is when somebody else relates to what has been written, and tells us so.  Pride and confidence grow and somehow we feel more valued, all because of the creation of a poem.  There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that these are just a few of the reasons why writing poetry has therapeutic benefits.  Take time to test this out, and see how true this statement is.      

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