A new experience that finally made me realise a thing I didn’t know: Writing poetry is a way to free creativity from all rules.
Experimental poetry is an opportunity to write what crosses your mind. Writing without thinking… At least, for your first draft. Of course, you have to think about how you can improve your poem and how is it possible to make it sound better. But, during classes, we had the occasion to make poetry from anything: from random internet researches, a collage with different sentences, taken from different magazines to a simple object that belongs to us. Literally anything… And the more we worked on a piece the best it became.
Experimental poetry is the occasion to see the evolution of your work, the way it gets better. To be honest, if I wanted to learn how to write poetry it was because I wanted to find a way to free my mind. To write all the thoughts that come to my mind. And even if I can’t make stories from them, I needed to express them, to write them down. Sometimes, I just have the feeling that all of these thoughts want to be free… And experimental poetry can be a way to release them.
When you write poetry, you look for Beauty.
Words are used to express Beauty.
You can write about the Beauty of Life, the Beauty of a feeling, and even the Beauty you may find in a specific moment you’ve lived.
One day, for example, I was walking along the cliffs, between Whitby and the Robin Wood’s Bay, and as walked I started to think about writing poetry. With this incredible view before my eyes, all I wanted was to write a poem to express what I felt at this exact moment.
I was there, right before this infinity of the sea. My feet were only a few meters away from this immense emptiness, and yet, I felt no fear... I could hear the sound of the waves breaking loudly against the rocks. I could feel the cool wind whipping my cheeks and tangling my hair. But I felt safe, peaceful, in the midst of this natural performance that kept playing different acts...
How could I not stop, even for a moment, to contemplate such a wonderful view? How could we forget to contemplate this nature that offers us, every minute, unforgettable scenes that stay in our minds?
Sometimes, you are thinking about such strange things when you contemplate views you don’t use to see… And many thoughts come to your mind to help you think about everything. Anything.
We’re able to make stories from anything.
That’s what I learned during this writer’s retreat in Whitby. As I was lost in the middle of nowhere, I had the chance to keep thinking about simple things. Things I don’t use to think. Things I can think when my mind is released. Released from everything I live in my daily life.
That’s why I really wanted to learn how to write poetry. I wanted to find a way to express all these thoughts I had. I wanted to feel this Beauty. I finally realised that everything around me could become much richer, much more beautiful, as soon as I took the time to stop and stare.
Everything makes sense when we take a moment to be Aware of it.
That's one of the lessons I learned from these few days on the cliffs of Whitby. I was there. I was looking at the infinity in front of me and suddenly I felt new sensation running through my veins... Some people say that fresh sea air is one of the most revitalising... Today, I think I'm really becoming aware of it. I feel good, better, revitalised on the top of these cliffs...
From now on I will make sure to preserve this new energy I feel in every part of my body. It will be my memory of Whitby… And to be honest, today, for the first time, I feel deep inside me this wonderful beauty I saw all around me.
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