Poetry, All Art, & Their Roles in Our Everyday Lives
2021 into 2022 Update—We first shared this article in May 2020 during Mental Health Awareness Month when we were all collectively, freshly into the early months of COVID-19's lessons and impacts. It feels fair to say that we as people had no true idea of what was ahead of us and the toll of complex factors around this, with our lives uprooted more than 5 million pandemic-specific deaths worldwide into now, navigating brought-to-the-surface racial and economic unrest, and exhaustion from all of these overlapping aspects of what we mentally process daily, combined with whatever we are each dealing with individually in our specific struggles. So we're sharing this article one more time as a reminder to allow self-lulling, to rest, to make room for absorbing art sometimes, and also space and freedom to create it, and to be kind to yourself in a hard world which does still have beauty around the next corner, if you let yourself be open to looking for the light.
Poetry—as a literary, vocal, and often
physical form of art—is a part of everyday life often more than people realize,
and this means there is room for it to be noticed even in our jobs and
work-worlds.
If you slow down enough to recognize
it, poetry can and does play a role in many of our life-minutes across waking,
meals, working, conversations with those who grow to matter to us, time spent
outdoors, grocery shopping, when we’re walking or driving in parking lots, doing
laundry, and in our moments of silence. And the more we open up to gleaning its
place in our lives, the more we potentially begin to sense and speak it in our
day-to-day living.
Photo Credit: Valentin Salja
Each May, Mental Health Month is a
fitting segue in leaving behind April as National Poetry Month. This
theme-honoring month focused on awareness and breaking stigmas to help people
feel less judged and instead more comfortable accepting themselves, welcoming
the benefits of working on ourselves within and on the outside, began in 1949,
according to youth.gov.
Marika Horacek-Kunkle, MA, LPC, ATR-BC,
a Breakthrough Therapist at the Caron Treatment Centers location in South Heidelberg Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, a
little over an hour northwest of Philadelphia, shares her insights on the value
of Mental Health Month in addition to poetry’s value in an everyday sense as
well as that of all art.
“I’ve volunteered extensively at the Helen
Keller National Center, Free Arts NYC, Wernersville State Hospital, and the
Greater Reading Mental Health Alliance in art advocacy, most recently joining the
Muhlenberg Township Arts Board locally.”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, she
co-facilitated weeklong experiential personal growth workshops in the
Breakthrough program at her campus; she also facilitates art therapy groups and
is inspired daily by her belief in the healing powers of creativity and
art-making.
“Historically, Westerners have had the
tendency to focus on physical health, and by ‘health,’ most frequently, that
has been defined as lack of illness—not necessarily that someone is engaged in
self-care or actively engaging in practices promoting their wellness," Horacek-Kunkle
reflects. “Having a month devoted to increasing awareness of mental health is
essential in helping to increase awareness that individuals are multifaceted,
made of many different elements.”
She points out that, “When someone’s
mental health is compromised, all other aspects of their wellness are impacted.
Mental Health Month provides a platform to discuss how mental health can be
impacted and the amazing benefits to engaging in creative activities like art
and poetry.”
Some folks say art is necessary at a
soul-level, and for the good of our hearts and mental states, for us as
creatures of this earth.
“Art has been an essential part of
humanity since its inception when individuals first had the ability to make
marks,” Horacek-Kunkle adds. “Whether creative exploration has had utilitarian
purpose, commemorated events, or conveyed information about a culture, art has been
imbued in all aspects of our lives. Creativity is necessary for the soul, and I
utilize art therapy book author Cathy Malchiodi’s definition of the word—‘Creativity
is a means of personal-growth, self-understanding, change, and rehabilitation. Art-making
not only helps uncover one’s creative potential but also enhances health and
wellbeing.’ I have found that individuals may have difficulty accepting their
artistic side and feeling that their work can be referred to as art. When we
look at it through the lens of creativity, we have an opportunity to widen the
types of things individuals can take part in and make when they feel they are
being creative. When I am facilitating groups, we discuss creating in a variety
of settings with various materials, such as cooking, gardening, auto mechanics,
theater, etc. My perspective is that it is imperative that individuals feel
they are being creative, as creativity itself is a life-sustaining force, and the
way in which an individual engages in creative acts gets to be defined by each
person.”
Photo Credit: Laura Chouette
It seems as though there is nothing
quite like creating and that the very act of it offers a distinctly different
energetic feeling compared to moments of not creating. It often feels uniquely powerful,
enlivening, confidence-instilling, beneficial for people and their communities,
and like a way to connect and unify people by whatever is created. This is even
more possible sensation-wise if they slow down to be in similar energy-oriented
space together with something tied to art-making, including writing poetry
alone or collectively as well as reading it out loud, performing it, and
hearing it.
“Research and literature often refer
to the creative flow possible when someone is creating,” Horacek-Kunkle says. “I
have experienced being in these flow states, where time cannot be measured, and
my world is focused solely on my relationship with my art-making. It is a
powerful state, one which I think artists strive for within, once they’ve had a
personal experience with feeling in the zone, in flow. I also feel that art is
about relationships, the relationship between the artist and their materials
and then between the piece of art and the viewer, if it comes to that level of
creation. Art is a connecting force in life, if people are open to experience
it in that way. It is also important to note that the flow and exhilaration of
creating is separate from any finished piece. In art therapy, the focus is on
the process of making, not on the creation of a product.”
In certain cases, some people assume
poetry and other forms of art are not something they can relate to, perceiving them as abstract, obscure, or hard to relate to and understand. Poetry from past
centuries and decades, not contemporary, or written very cryptically, can often
reinforce this, but thankfully, there are plenty of accessible poems out in the
world, and the best of writers communicate in language which people at
different levels can grasp and appreciate so that it’s more universal in feel
and reach.
Horacek-Kunkle explains how pushing
poetry and different approaches to art away can happen.
“Our first experiences with art-making
and writing have a lasting impact on our self-assessment of our own abilities,”
she notes. “Often, we want to discount means of art we have attempted when we
have not had successful responses from others, when shared. People can easily
get caught up in the concept of right and wrong in creating and writing instead
of allowing themselves to feel whether something speaks to them from a deeper
place.”
A societally relevant and relatable
poem to mention here is one by NayyirahWaheed who is sometimes referenced as one of a good handful of Instapoets,
young writers sharing often very brief poems on Instagram. Less active
since last year on the social media platform, she still has a wide-reaching
range of fans as more than 600,000 followers on Instagram, but her brevity-rich
poems are easily discovered by looking up her name on Google under the Images
tab.
the hard
season
will
split you
through.
do not
worry.
you will
bleed water.
do not
worry.
this is
grief.
your face
will fall out and
down your
skin
and
there will
be scorching.
but do not
worry.
keep
speaking the years from
their hiding
places.
keep
coughing up smoke
from all the
deaths you have
died.
keep the
rage tender.
because the
soft season will
come.
it will
come.
loud.
ready.
gulping.
both hands
in your chest.
up all
night.
up all of
the nights.
to drink all
damage into love.
—therapy
“Poetry is valuable because it helps
individuals to find and use their own voice,” Horacek-Kunkle adds. “It provides
a way for one to make sense of the world as well as let go of ideas that may
not serve an individual. One of the most important discussions we can have with
others is about the power of language. We are constantly creating with our
words and actions—our inability to recognize that creation in each moment does
not limit the process. Neuroscience research supports that the choices we make
consistently reinforce the neural pathways in our brains, therefore, using disempowering
vocabulary limits our self-concept.”
It is so easy to not catch our
self-berating sentences and how we can trap ourselves and hold ourselves down
by the words we use. Yet they have the flexibility to reinforce our power,
deservingness, and growth, if we can build our awareness to realize this.
“One of the things I discuss in group
art therapy workshops is the use of diminishing words, such as ‘just’ and ‘but,’”
she explains. “I attempt to slow people down to provide them with the
opportunity to witness what they are creating with their speaking and writing. Language
can be used to imprison us or to free us. Oftentimes, patients need to be
introduced to their power and efficacy in utilizing language to free themselves
of burdens.”
Photo Credit: Trust "Tru" Katsande
And she shares more in how she’s used
poetry in her work in teaching others to give themselves permission to create.
“I’ve used poetry to spark art-making
with art therapy directives, and I’ve had individuals connect with poems to
gain insight that they are not alone, that there are people who can relate to
their struggles,” she says. “I’ve also seen people who had long given up on
considering themselves artists—newly finding and enjoying the act of creating
again, especially when there is a focus on process, not product. Introducing
poetry to groups is beneficial for patients to see how much is open to
interpretation and how much the reader’s perspective alters the potential
meanings in a piece of work, and of course, this can be relevant to all people.
Poetry is also an important way to illustrate the power of language, particularly
in considering specific word choices and imagery. Poetry and other types of art
provide a person with opportunities to make choices, creating something of
their own, whether independently or in highly structured environments, like the
campus where I work.”
I shook
hands that dripped like a dirty sea.
I found a
chair and desk. My name tag said my name.
Through the
glass ceiling, I saw the heavy rumps of CEOs.
Outside my
window, the sun was a burning stove,
All of us
pushing papers
To keep it
going.
She also offers an eye into how poetry
can be expansive for a person in welcoming growth of thought across concepts
and cultures, in addition to helping to better develop everyday skills tied to
interacting with those around us.
“It can be a helpful way to present a
topic as well as provide structures that can then be emulated as a starting
place for work,” she adds. “Poetry is also an amazing exercise in listening. I
learned from a poetry therapist that it is important to read each poem out loud
in the group three times (and across voices of different people versus only one
person reading a poem verbally, too), as each is an opportunity to hear
something new. This is an incredible lesson in slowing down, being in the
present moment, and practicing mindfulness.”
When Horacek-Kunkle initially heard of
Berks Bards as a local poetry-promoting nonprofit in Berks County, first
founded in 1998, she says she felt excited to hear about a group like this
existing in her own community.
“I always appreciate when artists have
venues to be together, share their art, and support one another,” she admits.
“Plus, art-making can be an isolating process, so having opportunities to be
with other artists, even via Zoom, now, is
vital. It is also important to have safe places to share what you have been
working on, whether to receive accolades or encouragement, or to just feel
heard. And talking through struggles and hearing or seeing others’ work can
help to spark our own creativity.”
“Roy Fox Lichtenstein (who lived from
1923 until 1997), a peer of Andy Warhol in the 1960s in the new art movement, said
that, ‘Art doesn’t just transform. It just plain forms,’” Horacek-Kunkle says. “Art
is one of the building blocks of culture, and by providing communities access
to the arts through grants like the ones awarded by these Pennsylvania-based
arts-advocacy organizations, allows for engagement with the self and with society.
The arts engage many areas of the brain, promote understanding, sharing of
cultures, and social skills, to name just a few of the positive aspects made
possible when a person engages with art. Other positive attributes promoted
when one is creating include increasing observation skills, focus,
self-expression, perseverance, collaboration, and risk-taking. These
organizations contribute vitally to communities by providing access to the arts,
and by doing so, allow individuals to become self-actualized. Access to the
arts contributes to an individual’s self-esteem, mental health, and allows for
a different approach for self-expression. Art, and specifically poetry, allows
for a place to release all the things which are not always able to be said in
other ways.”
Poet Mary Oliver,
born in 1935, passing away lastyear, wrote these lines in her poem titled, "Invitation," and its
resonance now seems even more in tune with what we're enduring globally and
locally than when she created it. We share this excerpt with you, reader, as a
final word of comfort and inspiration in what's possible to be glimpsed and
known through the fortunate resource of poetry.
it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in this broken world.
*
Marika Horacek-Kunkle is
in the process of providing outpatient art therapy services independently in
Southeastern Pennsylvania, which may lead to other nonprofit work in the
future. She can be reached at PennCreativeArts@gmail.com.
