By Jared Garcia
Poetry has always been a way to share my truth.
As a child, it was hard for me to articulate what exactly I was feeling. I was often overwhelmed with so many different emotions and I couldn’t help others understand. Back then, I could just label it as being a child but I didn’t want to use that excuse forever. I wanted to learn how to properly understand and empathize with others.
It wasn’t until I was older that I realized my ramblings could be classified as poetry. I discovered that people have dedicated their life and work to poetry, that their ideas and writings can be classified as art. Knowing that whatever I was writing could belong somewhere was validating to my experience.
I found a new form of power when creating poetry. Imagery and metaphors allowed me the chance to world-build, to showcase an experience in the way I want it to be shown. The possibilities were endless. Stories and feelings could be shared through imagination and evoked senses. Even now, there’s still many opportunities for an array of emotions to be shown, it can range from anger to tenderness to determination. It never just has to follow the archetype of a “sad poet”.
There is never just one direct answer or interpretation to poetry. It leaves room for the reader to find a piece of themselves in the poem. It’s somehow liberating yet cathartic.
Poetry became a healthy coping mechanism when I knew nothing else would. It has and still allows me to share feelings and experiences in a way that is still my own and no one will ever take that away from me.
Poetry has always been a way to share my truth.
As a child, it was hard for me to articulate what exactly I was feeling. I was often overwhelmed with so many different emotions and I couldn’t help others understand. Back then, I could just label it as being a child but I didn’t want to use that excuse forever. I wanted to learn how to properly understand and empathize with others.
It wasn’t until I was older that I realized my ramblings could be classified as poetry. I discovered that people have dedicated their life and work to poetry, that their ideas and writings can be classified as art. Knowing that whatever I was writing could belong somewhere was validating to my experience.
I found a new form of power when creating poetry. Imagery and metaphors allowed me the chance to world-build, to showcase an experience in the way I want it to be shown. The possibilities were endless. Stories and feelings could be shared through imagination and evoked senses. Even now, there’s still many opportunities for an array of emotions to be shown, it can range from anger to tenderness to determination. It never just has to follow the archetype of a “sad poet”.
There is never just one direct answer or interpretation to poetry. It leaves room for the reader to find a piece of themselves in the poem. It’s somehow liberating yet cathartic.
Poetry became a healthy coping mechanism when I knew nothing else would. It has and still allows me to share feelings and experiences in a way that is still my own and no one will ever take that away from me.