Out of the Loop: Read a Poem

Activity 5: Let lyricism lift you up!

Hello everyone!

Hope you are doing well! I’ve had a week or so stuck *in the loop* of procrastination, low energy, low mood, and low motivation, so no Out of the Loop post could make it out 🥲

I had many thoughts on my experience (of course! All the overthinking and intellectualisation bring insights sometimes). I will be sharing more on these later in future posts. For now, let’s get back on topic!

If you are already familiar with the series, jump straight to This week’s activity section.

And if not, welcome to your first Out of the Loop!

The main idea of this series is to have a small activity to start off your week with a win, and possibly build a new helpful habit. The activities are aimed at reducing overwhelm, grounding us, and having us try something new every now and then. With the added benefit of the community and someone to hold us accountable, so that we actually do what we’ve said we would!

If you’d like to know more about how the idea came to be, have a read of the first post in the series 👇

Out of the Loop: Let's begin with the breath

Now, without further ado, let’s get right into it!

This week’s activity

Probably one of my most favourite ways to soothe myself and find solace and inspiration is reading poetry. I wasn’t an avid reader of poetry until a few years ago, although I had been writing the occasional poem whenever inspiration struck for over 10 years.

While the activity is straightforward, if you have no favourite poems to turn to (yet), you might find it overwhelming.

Worry not, because I have compiled a few of my favourite inspiring and hope-restoring poems below. Take your pick(s) and enjoy! Don’t worry about understanding exactly “what the author wanted to say”, see if you feel it tickling your soul. That means it’s working!

• I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, William Wordsworth

• The Road To Wisdom & Small Things And Great, Piet Hein

• New Every Morning, Susan Coolidge

• “Hope” is the thing with feathers & If I can stop one Heart from breaking, Emily Dickinson

• Dust If You Must, Rose Milligan

• The Lake Isle of Innisfree, William Butler Yeats

The Stretch

Plenty of ways for you to take this week’s activity further if this is what you fancy:

• learn the poem which speaks to you the strongest by heart. You can find more about the benefits of that here.

• read more poetry! If you’ve found a poet you really like, you can get their collection and dive deeper into their works. Or if you prefer variety and are open to discovering different styles, get a poetry anthology. Two of my favourites are ‘Bright Poems for Dark Days’ & ‘Tell Me the Truth About Life’. You may also opt for a poem-a-day format, like this one by Poetry Foundation or Poets.org. There are also anthologies like this one you could get.

• write a poem! Whenever I read poetry, I’m often inspired to spill my own words. If you feel the itch, give it a go without judging the coherence, just go with the flow (you can edit later!) This one deserves its own Out of the Loop edition, so keep your eyes peeled!

Why it works

In the words of Rita Dove, “Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.” Poetry has the power to stir up within you that which you didn’t know was stir-up-able.

All forms of writing can be inspiring, but poetry has the unique characteristics of playing with rhythm, formatting, and brilliant use of vocabulary in a very tight space.

Wisdom, beauty, melody, and connection in a few short lines. If this is not pure magic, I don’t know what is!

If you need further convincing, have a look at these 10 Reasons to Begin Reading Poetry.

And just to set the record straight - poetry may be easily digestible due to its brevity compared to other written formats, but it’s also layered with meaning. Don’t torment yourself with finding *the* meaning. If a poem speaks to you, it just does, and you get to derive what it means for YOU and how it makes YOU feel.

If a poem does not speak to you, it means it is not the poem for you. Not that poetry is not for you :)

Your turn!

I’m really very curious to hear how you’ve found today’s activity! Do you have any favourite poets or poems? Did you discover new poetry today? Share your recommendations and experience in the comments below, I’d love to discover some new poetry, too!

I’m also keen to hear any tips you might have or activities you’d like to see in future posts.

Hope this was helpful and that I’ll see you in the discussions and on the next instalment!

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“The best poems say with words that which can’t be said with words.”

— Rob Jacques