The Heart of a Poet: An Autoethnographic Study of Poetry as Therapy in Times of Crisis

Introduction And Background: Poetry As Therapy In Times Of Crisis

Times of crisis are moments that writers can capitalize on fully to develop avenues of their writing. Creative writing is to a large extent born of crisis. In this chapter, I have showcased poetry that I wrote during the year 2020 as part of the project for this book on writing during times of crisis. During the writing of these poems, I was conscious of the events that took place during the year 2020. The bigger and larger event was COVID 19, but other events were in play. The major events were the killing of George Floyd in Massachusetts and also the elections that saw Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win the White House. This win, and my reflection on the continent of Africa and its possibilities, were the climax that portrayed hope in this collection.

I used autoethnography as the method to discuss my own poetry and what it meant to me. I looked at the writing of this poetry as a process of healing from these tough moments. I encourage other poetry writers who are also researchers to explore other topics by using autoethnography to study their own topics.

This chapter’s title is “The heart of a poet.” This title is formed from my mother tongue Dholuo of Western Kenya, Eastern Africa. In Dholuo, the heart is the seat of consciousness. It is sometimes referred to in plural as one talks of multiple ways of thinking. One can say, “my heart is telling me…” or “my other heart is telling me…” This is not necessarily to mean that one has several hearts, but just that the heart is able to perform functions in plurality. In this collection, therefore, “the heart of a poet” was seen as one that functions in this plurality by writing crisis poetry while also including optimism and hope. Therefore, while “my heart was telling me” that there was crisis in 2020, “my other heart was telling me” that amidst this pandemic were other things to be celebrated, and that there was hope in the midst of despair. That is the premise with which the poetry in this chapter was written and eventually analyzed.

Times of crisis are not unfamiliar to writers. This is the time that writers’ pens glide as they make sense of the situations and write for their own sake and for the sake of the society where they live. Through writing during times of crisis, writers make an indelible mark in the societies they live in by being the conscience of these communities. They write for social justice, they write to inform others, and they write to calm the society and negotiate for peace. However, an important part of writing during crisis is for the writer’s own healing and therapy.

The process of healing through writing has been discussed by writers over time. Poetry is an integral part of this kind of writing. When crisis happens, poetry is used as therapy. However, Gallagher (1996) is quick to point out that poetry is not subordinated as a means to some other end, namely therapy, but rather is its own reason for being (p. 1). This is to say that the beauty of poetry warrants its existence aside from its therapeutic properties. Historically, as Hoffman and Granger (2015) contend poetry is “one of the oldest healing arts that has been utilized across many different cultures throughout history” (p. 16). The properties in poetry give it its therapeutic nature. Like songs, poetry has a way that heals the heart when writing or listening to it. Harris (2006), for example, posits that “metaphorical writing can have therapeutic effects, and when patients are encouraged to relay metaphors, more meaning can be sought in analysis.” (p. 225). The language in poetry gives one pause and time to think about meanings as the beauty of it works as a therapeutic agent. Harris continues to say that this property of poetry is not new, and dates back to the time the time of Shakespeare. He opines that:

Language, therefore, acts as a way to purify our thoughts during tough times when we either use it, analyze it, or see it in our experiences. Thus, when a poet writes during crisis, the aim is to take the reader with her, as both need the therapy that the poetry offers.