Silence, Sensitivity, and the Spark of a Poem
- A chapter from How To Write Evocative Poetry -
Poems have a way of just appearing. Often they come unannounced, bursting out of the silence, screaming to be heard and written down then and there. They are brutal. They don’t negotiate. And they rarely give a second chance. Thus, I have learnt too always be open and ready. I always have something to write on with me; I sleep with a notepad under my pillow, and exercise with another close at hand. I have had the conversation with my family, letting them know that there will be times when I simply must stop whatever it is I am doing to go and write.
This isn’t the case with my longer form writing – for that I need long periods of time to myself, silence, and the internal permission to allow myself to embrace the suck. That kind of writing takes work, whereas writing poetry is more akin to the capturing of fleeting inspiration. Blink and you miss it kind of deal. Take this book for instance. Writing the introduction, body, and conclusion took time and effort. Over the period of a few months, whenever I had a couple of hours to myself, I would chip away and get it done. Interruptions were an annoyance, but nothing I couldn’t address in the next writing session. The poems within the book however all appeared to me. I couldn’t have completed them if I didn’t write them down as they came. That said, once they were about 90% complete, their essence was captured, and I could safely let ‘Editor-Zac’ finish the job. Once again, your process may be different to me, and if so, lean into what works for you. But still, be open to poems coming, and importantly, be prepared!
Very occasionally I know that a poem will come ahead of time. It is like I can sense that it wants to be written but isn’t yet ready. This was the case with A Simulacrum of Thought. Every morning, for months, I would watch the morning sunrise. Observing the sun against the clouds. At times marvelling at how similar, but nonetheless unique each skyline was. I knew I wanted to write about it, but never found the right way to begin. I tried forcing it a bunch of times, but as discussed elsewhere, this method produced mediocre results that I ultimately discarded. Thus, I waited, open and available, until the day it popped into my mind. I didn’t predict the bleakness of the question at the end of the poem, but it seemed to fit. I was meditating on how fleeting life is, and how each day with my kids will never occur again.
A Simulacrum of Thought
Every morning
I rise with the sun
Watching with awe
The soft vibrancy
Of cloud and colourEach sunrise uniquely its own
Yet so similar
That it’s subtlety
Is often lostA simulacrum of thought
Overlayed upon reality
Obscuring the beauty
Of the momentHow much of life
Have I lost
In this way?
Creativity, relaxation, and silence are deeply interconnected. The quieter my life is, the calmer I am, the less inputs I have, the more access I have to poetry. Every morning I meditate for 20 minutes, I get my coffee, sit outside, and simply observe the contents of my consciousness. Almost without exception, at the 15-minute mark, I am inspired. One or more poems come, and I find myself writing for another 30 minutes. This is where and when most of my work comes from. But if, before I sit down to meditate, I decide to scroll social media, or listen to a podcast, watch a video, or consume other input, my productivity is dramatically reduced. Not only do I feel less calm, but I also feel less ‘connected’ to whatever place my creativity comes from.
I am coming to realise just how important silence really is. We have endless opportunities for distraction – with technology the way it is, we can technically be receiving inputs from the moment of waking until the moment of sleep. This isn’t ‘normal’ when viewed from an evolutionary sense. Until modern times, most of a person’s time would have been spent in relative silence. That is something we are now missing – unless we choose to embrace it. I find that I still have an impulse to fill the silence with noise. Justifying it to myself that I am ‘promoting my work’ or ‘learning something helpful’, but when I take an honest look at why, I discover that I am just running in fear. The silence can hold demons, it can hold pain, it can hold challenging truths I’d rather avoid – but embracing it leads to healing, clarity, and importantly to calm.
I now only engage in an input if ‘it can improve upon the silence’ – most of the time it cannot. This has all resulted in an inner state that is far more fertile to creative expression. In my books ‘Reflections of the Self: The Poetry, Insights, and Wisdom of Silence’ and ‘Mindfulness: A Guidebook To the Present Moment’, I talk extensively on how to integrate silence into your life, and receive the fruits of an ongoing practice of inquiry, I encouraged you to check out those resources, or more poignantly, simply to set a timer for 10 to 20 minutes and sit in silence – just remember to keep a notepad at hand!
When I say be open to poetry coming at any time, I mean it. Connection and Shadow came in quick succession during a panic attack. My partner was comforting me, calming me down, and reassuring me during the terrifying experience, when suddenly I was inspired to write. Using the voice feature on my phone I managed to dictate into the notes section, and then later when I was calmer, edit them into the format you see below. It isn’t at all surprising that such an emotionally charged state would contain the seeds of poetry. A lot of my work as come from deep levels of introspection, a fall into silence, a response to a breakdown of my mental state, or as an offshoot of a dream. This is why I always keep something on me, ready to write, just in case.
Connection
A hand on my heart
You head touching mine
A word softly spoken
Connecting to the divineShadow
Only now
That I have stepped into the light
Do I realise
I’ve been living
In shadow
Summary
Be ready for creativity to strike at any time - carry a notepad and pen, or your preferred writing device. Foster silence to encourage further creativity.
This chapter is from the book How To Write Evocative Poetry
