Reclaming Your True Self
with Angela Dunning
Poetry as Healing Agent The Role of Poetry in Discovering and Reclaiming the Fragmented Self By Angela Dunning
A few years ago, following a spiritually uplifting and very healing holiday in the West of Ireland, I found myself having the sudden urge to write poems. Inspired by the outrageously stunning and wild scenery of Western Ireland, out of nowhere, words began to tumble out of my mind and form into poems on the page, as if by their own volition. As I started to embrace my new-found creativity and allow this free-flowing energy to run down my arms and into my hands, I discovered several things in quick succession: One: There was such freedom in writing poetry. I could let go of sentence structure, paragraphs and even, to some extent, punctuation and logic. Unlike any other written form, poetry allows, if not encourages, a bending of the rules, urging this free-form style to run free. It was possible, therefore, to allow my creative imaginings and metaphors to take on a life of their own, as this energy danced quite gaily out of my fingertips by itself. Two: As someone committed to my own personal healing and growth, I learned that writing poems allowed me to express some very difficult personal experiences and feel28 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e December 2017
ing-states. For example, to my astonishment, it was often during or immediately after a bout of deep depression that most of my poems would suddenly spring to life, quickly forming their words on the page and seemingly from out of the darkness of the abyss I had just found myself in once again. I found this to be doubly beneficial as it helped me make conscious sense of what I had just been through (another unwanted visit to the Underworld), and it seemed to help clear away the stuck, de-pressed energy from my system. It seems I had found both an outlet and an agent to help me deal with my periods of depression. Three – And this is so often the case when you are brave enough to write down some of your most personal experiences: A lot of people resonated with my poems and said they found them supportive and comforting. Finally, I discovered, much to my utter joy, that I really enjoyed writing poems. A whole new playfulness arose in me at times as I conjured up imagery and symbolism, allowing the poem to almost write itself much of the time. I had found a new creative form of expression which was simultaneously healing and enjoyable.