The magic of finding inspiration and influence.
You aren’t original and that’s okay!
There is a concept that nobody ever has an original thought; someone else has always said it before you and will continue to say it after you. I used to find this daunting, as though it was a terrible thing that I could never be unique. How boring it is to find… community? However, the more I’ve grown and understood life a little more, the more I find comfort in this thought.
You are never alone in your experiences of the world. I mean sure, the people in your immediate circle may never understand how you see the colour blue as purple or how you hate that the seam of your socks rubs on your toes, but someone out there will and that is truly magic. It is through this new way of thinking that I really started to take notice of how people think, share and experience their world. The more I took the time to read and listen to creatives explain their existence in new ways, the more I was massively inspired.
Seriously silly inspirations- Poetry shouldn’t be pretentious pals!
There is often the misconception that inspiration has to be found in a poem that you have to read ten times to understand what it’s saying or tucked away in a niche YouTube video that only people with a scholar password can access. But this wasn’t true for me. The first poems I ever read and truly enjoyed were by people like Roald Dahl and his Revolting Rhymes or The Giraffe the Pelly and Me. I loved how he always wrote in comic verse and made the world seem so full of colour and fun. This is something that I’ve definitely carried into my own writing, to explore the darker themes of life, but to always show light and hopefulness at the end. Poetry, much like life itself, is a journey and I’d never want that journey to end on a negative note- or at least not without a lesson in there somewhere.
Another writer who I adore is Dr Seuss, he used Anapaestic Tetrameter, and for those amongst us who have no clue what that is (don’t worry, it took me three years of my A Levels to vaguely grasp it), he wrote in a way that each line has twelve syllables. This makes whatever he wrote feel like a song, a dance, a whole experience! This is something that can be found in a few of my poems- the musicality of poetry makes reading it flow so much nicer and helps the feelings of the poem really shine through. Often, people think poetry has to be written like a woman with the plague who hates her husband, but this really isn’t the case.
Poetry can be silly, fun and still explore what it means to be human- just in different ways! Quick history notes here but, poetry actually pre-dates written text. It was originally just spoken as a way to remember events and laws. The rhythmic and repetitious form of poetry made long stories easier to recall. So, the musical rhythm of writers such as Dr Seuss, has a very important meaning. Even if he is talking about green eggs and ham…
Modern poetry- the themes of being alive.
The more that I started to really craft my own poetry style, the more I was reaching for people who wrote about the things that I did. Whether it was mental health, the queer experience, femininity, insecurities, grief, nature and reflection work- I was determined to be inspired by my lack of any original thought… EVER!
Poets like Robert Frost are, in my opinion, one of the best poets to write about nature in everyday life. He is the creator of, ‘The Road Not Taken’ which you may have heard of! It is paraphrased a lot to mean ‘following your own destiny’, ‘taking the road less travelled’ and exploring a new way of life. Nature is something I use a lot, whether as a metaphor or literally, to explore a lot of everyday feelings and motifs. There is a lot of humanity reflected in nature, even if it is a picture of a wonky tree that my friend sends me captioned ‘you with your scoliosis’… Nature in every sense, is integrated into human life- whether it is a reflection of the way we live- with oceans full of oil, or stubborn plants that are determined to grow on a trampled path.
Button Poetry is home to so many modern poets that I truly admire. Two stand out writers and performers that I love are Neil Hilborn and Sarah Kay. Hilborn has lived experience of mental illness, specifically OCD. The way he writes about mental health and the vulnerability of being human is so heart-breaking, that it feels like a really long ‘goodbye hug’ with someone who you will miss greatly. Hilborn balances the sadness and hopefulness of existence so well that I carried this through my own writing. I write about mental health in a very open way, it is clear which poems are about ill health and that was intentional. Not every sadness is wrapped in beauty and that is okay- it is all about balance.
Sarah Kay is one of my favourite poets, probably ever. A big statement, but for even bigger reasons! Kay writes poetry around the celebration of womanhood, femininity and using your inner strength. Kay writes poetry that feels very soft and romantic on the surface, but on a second read- the pink smoke clears and the hardships of living in a patriarchy, of being a ‘sensitive’ person and of navigating life as a young person, reveals itself. This romantic style and imagery are big themes within my writing. I think its powerful to romanticise your life and pretend to be the main character for a while. In a world that forces you to be anything other than sensitive, owning your emotions and reactions is the best form of a revolution.
Poetry is the writing method’s hippy cousin.
I could go on for days about modern poets that inspire me. Even musicians and artists and a whole host of other creatives inspire me as you can see from my virtual pin-board! I use a virtual board and physical journalling to log my other inspirations!
As poetry is a very visual writing form, I visualise my inspirations on my pin-board as much as I can. Even if I don’t have time to do this physically, Pinterest is just as good!
Writer’s block isn’t real… and other parting truths.
There is a huge power in getting inspiration from everything around you. There is never a thing as ‘writer’s block’ when you think this way; as simply by existing in this world and seeing the outside, speaking to friends, reading and watching others – is a big part of the creative process. As a maker of things, you are never truly stopping. You are always absorbing the inspirations around you, then creating things from that!
So next time you worry about writer’s block or never having an original thought, remember that that’s the most powerful and wonderful thing ever. You ARE creativity and how amazing it is that someone else out there feels and sees the same things you do! You are never alone in this world; we are all just floating on this rock- trying to figure it out.