It’s no secret that we are big proponents of reading outside your genre, including non-fiction, as well as reading outside your preferred form. Your prose writing can only improve with exposure to long and short form writing, essays, scripts, song lyrics, and poems.
In a post on the BookBaby blog, Janna Lopez talks about how she overcame her resistance to poetry and how it helped her writing. “You may need to take poetry off its cultural pedestal and do away with your personal preconceptions to realize how exploring poetry can change your writing life,” she says.
Lopez initially had a negative impression of poetry, a form she believed was elitist and incomprehensible. “After reading most poems, I’d end up thinking, what the fuck did that mean?” she writes. “There were never any relatable entry points. Language was stiff. Concepts obscure. I was always on the outside.”
However, some thoughtful teachers and poets showed her the creative potential in the form, in part by exposing her to nontraditional poets. “With time, consistent exposure, and patience, poetry becomes less like wine and more like abstract paintings: rather than having to know what’s there — or be “right” about knowing what’s there — let expressive words move through you in ways which prompt you to reflect, internalize, and feel through meaning,” Lopez writes.
Being exposed to multiple poets and multiple styles of poetry is inspirational. “As I read more interesting work, I write more interesting work,” Lopez says. “Creative osmosis just happens. Poetry, as I’ve come to understand, can extend beyond rules, have no expectations or absolute forms.” Poetry is also a powerful method for self-examination and exploration.
“Unlearn everything you’ve learned about poetry,” Lopez writes. “Or rather, unlearn what you’ve been conditioned to believe about poetry. As a reader, you’ll be surprised by the truth or resonance that’s revealed through the poems others have written. As a writer, I guarantee you’ll unearth new meaning in your words.”
