Poetic observations can be of the external world, or of the poet’s internal world.  This column offers suggestions for an inspection of your inner world.  It helps you observe your inner world with all the senses, just as a naturalist explores the physical world.

Share the beauty within you.  Look inside yourself and see your own weather.  Imagine all the seasons that exist within you that nobody else can see.  Using the following chart, describe the colours and shapes within your deeper self. 

After you complete the chart, develop each observation into a line of poetry. 

The Music within You

The next step to sharing your inner beauty is to turn up the volume on the music within you.  Imagine the sound of each of your emotions.  Describe the emotion by identifying the style of music that you hear inside yourself.  Give details of the melody and rhythm.  These are symbolic of your deeper feelings.  Close your eyes and concentrate until your subconscious mind begins playing music.  Interpret the meaning of the music that your deep mind plays for you.

What sounds did you find inside you?  Are they gentle or turbulent?  Describe the sounds you hear in your next poem so your friends can know you better.

The Erosion of Memories

Poetry is a way of sharing your inner self with other people.  It’s also a strong way to discover your deeper self.  A third benefit provided by the art of poetry is to refresh your mind and re-conceive who you are.   In many ways, we are the sum of our memories.  If we have many good memories, these contribute to the happiness of our lives.  On the other hand, bad memories stay with us a long time and damage our enjoyment of life.  The next step is intended to help you wash away unwanted negative memories.

Prepare a blank sheet of paper and a pen.  Sit down, close your eyes and visualize your life.  See what pictures come to mind.  Dedicate fifteen minutes to visualize the wind slowly eroding your memories.  Open your eyes to write down your observations, then close them again and return to your mental imagery.

Which of your memories withstand the erosion of the wind?  Imagine your negative memories slowly blowing away.  Control the wind in your mind by making bad memories fade.  Meanwhile, make your good memories stronger than eroding winds.  Allow positive memories to advance into the foreground.  Keep the wind blowing in your mental image until you are satisfied with the new landscape.  From the notes taken during your visualization, write a poem about your most outstanding memories that resist the winds of time.

Assembling your Poem

Assemble your poem using the three activities in this column.  Include details of your inner weather, your inner music, or your strongest memories.  Decide on an organising principle to give shape to your poem.  Begin by choosing your most interesting three or four lines of poetry from the exercises described in this column.   Then decide how many lines you would like in each stanza of your poem.  Stanzas of two to four lines are most common, but you are free to arrange your lines any way you like.

Visit other columns in The Poet’s Write Hand for ideas of developing and organising your poem with rhyme, meter, metaphor and simile.