I am a Poet, Yet I Struggle Answering: What Is Poetry?

I listen to other authors and writers speak and share their stories and experiences because I am inspired when I learn from them. Tracy K. Smith was particularly significant for me.

She was the 22nd Poet Laureate for the United States, and served from 2017 to 2019. From listening to her speak at the Sun Valley Writers Conference (SVWC) the weekend of July 22nd, 2023, I learned I am a poet. Yet, I still have so much to learn and develop. When I “grow” up, I aspire to be like her.

Tracy K. Smith’s session at the SVWC conference was about poetry, defining poetry. Smith quoted renowned American poet, Lucie Brock Brood, who said poetry is a proposition beyond logic.

Tracy K Smith said poetry is a participation in a part of creation, and it serves to spark senses, sensations, memories, experiences, meaning, and the forgotten sense of self, and it helps us aspire to become someone. She said, “Poems slow down time.” They connect you with your soul.

That really struck a chord with me. A poem is a co-creation. It is a coming together of a part of your soul with the soul of the universe by bringing consciousness or awareness to something, to a moment. As a writer, you share part of your experience, and when people read it, they superimpose their own story, family, meaning, and experience into your story. They help us explore the known and the unknown parts of ourselves.

Many readers have told me that when reading my poetry they feel as if I am speaking directly to them. When I write poetry, I think of no one but myself. I find it fascinating that a reader interprets my words in such a personal way.

This is something Smith also mentioned, as well as several other authors of fiction and non-fiction at the conference, and I feel it’s because it’s true of any writing. In a piece of writing, there are two parts that come together to make the experience. One is the writer who shares a story, an anecdote, a thought, an opinion, or something of their imagination. The second is the reader who incorporates their story, anecdote, thought, opinion, and imagination. Every experience is unique as there are no two readers who are the same, thus every single interpretation of the writing will be different for every person.

Tracy K Smith said that poetry may present a connection with the otherworldly and with the divine. For me, poetry awakened in my connection to the divine. As I pursued my Doctor of Divinity degree, poetry was an intrinsic part of my self-discovery. I even included poems in my dissertation.

Writing poems helped me connect with the outside world and with my inner world. When looking at the outer world, the best approach is to study the senses. What I see, what I smell, what I touch, what I taste, what I hear, what I sense. Studying my inner world was the key for me to acknowledge and understand my emotions.

After all this, I’ve come to the conclusion that poetry is any form of capturing a moment, from your perspective, and sharing it with the world.