How does Poetry affect your life?

Speak.

I think poetry changed me a little bit. After practicing so much I've become much better words and a little better at spelling even. But also, writing poetry has effected me in other good ways. Its always been a place for me to express my thoughts without the judgement of others interupting. Paper seems to listen a little better than people do at times. Haha. :) I think that riting poetry is one of the best and most useful things that we can do with our time.
Rachel.S.M.

Poetry has changed my life a little, right now im going through a very depressive and stressful time in my life and poetry just lets me unwind, most of the things i write are just gobildie goop but it makes me feel better inside, it alows to to smile and think straight

I find it to be a very satisfying form of self expression - whether it helps me to understand myself or the world a bit better

Poetry is like an outlet of emotion for many people, me included. I think that as we write and read more, poetically, we become more open to new ideas, new point of views from different people.

I write to let out emotions and to just try and escape everything going on in my life. I also like feeling like I'm good at something. This is one thing that I'm good at.

Poetry has changed my life in aspects of me no longer being a stranger to who i am anymore. it is the fact that i can leave water stains on paper like i could never leave on a shoulder. and the fact that it will never tell your secrets with out you allowing it to just makes me feel so much better. i don't bottle things like i used to and i feel like i am a person again.

^ and that affected your life?

Well anyhoo. I think it affected me because i used to be a very angry and confused little girl. I was your typical teenager really with added angst. But since i begun writing, i find myself being a lot calmer and a lot more at ease with myself and who i am. I found my calling, lol

Poetry is my life.

I've been writing since I was ten years old, it has been a form of self therapy (dealing with depression, anxiety, loneliness, happiness, anger, heartache, love, pain, solitude, exhilaration, etc.), a source of purging, a way to express the thoughts and emotions that overwhelm me from within. A way to express and create both mood and milieu.

It's helped keep me sane (though some may debate that fact, lol), it has given me personal satisfaction, it has helped me through rough times and good. It helped me find who I am.

It also brought me recognition and a little bit of cash when I started getting published in the small literary scene in the late 1980's up through the present, even more satisfaction for the five years I edited/published my own zine, it gave a once shy/introvert/loner the experiences of doing readings at major bookstores and at coffeehouses.

It also introduced me to other poets-like minded souls from all over the country/world, many who have become good friends.

And one of the most important, life changing things poetry has done in my life -It brought me a love that happened when I wasn't even looking for it, in fact, had almost given up on love, and through poetry(in fact, on this site!) I met my soulmate (to use an over-used but nonetheless true term). For that alone I shall ever be grateful.

It has expended my horizons and helped me grow as a person and in other ways.

Poetry has been the one constant throughout my life, when I had nothing else, I have always had my poetry, something that is mine and no one can ever take away.

I can read back over my poems and see how I've changed, see life lessons learned, remember important things I may forget, it allows me to see things in a different perspective. My poems are like a journal of my life; they show me where I was, where I am now, and perhaps even, where I am going.

And there is so many other ways poetry has affected my life.

As my own quote at the beginning of my profile says:

I do not write my poems, I live them.

Peace, Poetry & Power,

Gary Jurechka

Poetry is one of the best things in the world

This is going to sound melodramatic and pathetic but...

Poetry SAVED my life.

Poetry changed my life cuz I could write down what I was feeling which helped me a lot cuz it would calm me down! I also have while writing poems!

It affects me in the way that i can put my emotion into words and burned away to lessen the pain

~~ --<--@ ~~

Well writing for me in general (which includes a massive amount of poetry) just completely changed who I was. All the sudden I had something to be passionate about, and something to escape to.
It's like having a really good friend that you can tell all your secrets to, and I think having that as ultimately made me more open for some odd reason, and letting it all out helps me deal in a major way. I'm a redhead and sometimes have that bad temper that they're said to have and I find if I can fuse it into something positive, then I'm a much better person.

Poetry affects my life in the way that I have a way to express myself without saying anything.

Poetry to me is like a safe escape
i write exactly how i feel when i feel it
or write about situations i have seen other people go through its my way of expressing myself in a non-harmful way.
its a way to let go
and get rid of stress
for me atleast.

Well, it has changed my life. It helped me learn alot! I wish I knew about poetry along time ago... I mean I stopped myself from doing stupid things because of poetry. I know that sounded really stupid but it was very true.

~Karin

Well I think poetry did change my life. I had a pretty bad childhood so writing was the only thing that let me be myself and through poetry I could speak when no one else was listening. And poetry is my life, which is what everyone says thats on this site.

-SS

Poetry helped make me who I am. I look at a lot of situations different due to the fact that writing is my passion. Writing may have saved me a lot of pain on myself or other people. It gives me a talent that most do not have and it truly is a HUGE part of my life. There are days when I write 5 or 6 peices a day. =]

Its the only thing that can keep me from giving up.. that my music and my doggies.. they the only thing that keeps me going.. and a great friend kelly.. shes amazing... =]
xx

http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/author.html?id=204813

It just relaxes me

I rather hope that it affects my readers lives rather than my own. As far as my own life goes, It's made me a better critical writer and has helped write things like essays better because I understand how to make words fit together to sound more appetizing for the reader. Other than that I can't say it affects my life, maybe in the reverse that my life affects my poetry would be a more accurate statement because poetry helps me release certain deep dark emotions so that they aren't released on friends or acquaintances keeping me happy for the majority of every day.

Yeah same with me.
Its just such a nice release.
Nice to have memories of all youve been through in writing.
and well yeah...
xx

It allows me to be happier in my social life because i am getting all my inner emotions out through poetry. It releases grudges, hatred, sadness, or in general just reduces them.

I think poetry is a good effect on my life because its my way of talking when the words wont come out my mouth. helps with counselling aswell.

Ever since i started writing i realized it helps calm me down. it helps me get what im feeling out through the pen instead of me acting out in my actions or using hurtful words ill regret. It makes me happy because i know that i have something that will always be there. it is a way for me to be creative and say what im feelin in an art form so even if im talking about something that is a painful subject for me i can still make it beautiful. I love writing everyday and i dont think id be as happy a person without it.

POETRY HAS CHANGED ME ALOT.
iiTS A ANGER RELEASE MECHANiiSM.
ii WRiiTE WHEN iiM ANGRY OR SAD
AND iiT ALWAYS SEEM TO MAKE ME FEEL BETTER
ABOUT MYSELF SOMEWHAT. ii LOVE HOW ii CAN EXPRESS THiiNGS THRU WRiiTiiNG POETRY.
ii FEEL iiT MAKES ME A BETTER HAPPiiER PERSON.

It makes my emotions far more bearable, and it makes me look at the world so much more differently. Though when I'm sleeping I wake up with random bursts of poetry and I'm like 'AHH! I NEED PAPER!" but then i fall asleep and lose that poem, and i kick myself in the head about it later. lol

My poetry makes me very emotional (no not emo) and most of the time I do upset myself when I read over what I have written which is why I don't read my poems anymore after I have finished with them.

Poetry helps me get my feelings out instead of keeping them bottled up

Poetry has saved my life.

I used to self harm. Writing poetry allowed me to get through all the bad times without the use of a blade or spilling blood.

My poems are very long because each line is a line I wanted to mark on my arm and every word is the blood I wanted to shed.

It sounds emo but to be honest, I'm glad I took up poetry to express than scarring myself.

I couldn't read or write as a child. I didn't even know the alphabet until I was about ten years old. Because of that I focussed a lot on poetry; rhythm, meter and rhyme specifically allowed me to memorise poems and texts I couldn't read on the page. Doing this then fuelled me to teach myself how to read and write because I realised how much I was missing out on. If it hadn't been given poetry from being a baby I might not have learn't to read and write at all and then I wouldn't be studying ENglish literature at university now. I wouldn't be able to work in the jobs I do (currently a book shop) and I wouldn't have been published.

If I hadn't discovered poetry i wouldn't have moved to London to study poetry and prose. I wouldn't have met my partner. I wouldn't have returned to education and i wouldn't have the tattoos I have. If I didn't read poetry and subsequently much prose then I would probably watch more movies and buy a TV and sit in front of that instead. I wouldn't have met the writers I have or travelled where i have. I would be a very different me.

Poertry has had quite an impact on me.

Poetry caught my attention when i was reading my sisters poem and that was when i was like 12, ever since then i love to read poetry but didn't write till i understand it clearly. only then i started to write when i was like in my tenth grade, learning so much more than i did.

at first they were just small poems about my family and was decent to my eyes but still i knew i had potential to write about other things. soon enough i wrote about love poems in 12th grade and that started some sparks. never knew that the poems i wrote would make people fall in love. lol two of my friends got married because of what i wrote for them and they are always thankful for what i did...

i myself found someone who fell for my poetry and i fell for hers. the one person who understood me better than my family. if it wasn't for her i probably wouldn't write anymore. she's my inspiration for all my poems. but sadly i lost her and my attempts to write again have failed sadly...

guess poetry overall made other people happy but for me it saddens me...but it made an great impact on my life for sure.

It doesnt ,, all poetry is,, is just a way to get things off your chest and out of your mind