Exploring Poetry – What it Means To Be A Poet

This poetry blog post is on what it means to be a poet. It’s a great topic as the reasons each of us write poetry varies and can be personal, unique, or have a common theme. I have a guest come and post on my blog each month talking about poetry so be sure to check out all the Exploring Poetry posts in the series and follow for more! Today I welcome Way Taylor!

Way Taylor is a writer and blogger. Her personal blog touches on topics ranging from God and spiritually, to philosophical questions about the universe, and cultivating healthy relationships. She has a way with words that translates the universal meaning behind grief and love and transmutes it into light that helps the soul heal.

Way Taylor – What it means to be a poet


I didn’t become a poet until high school, but I was a writer long before then. In middle school I spent most of my time reading, so writing came easy to me. Essays, research papers, and books were what I excelled at. My skills in other subjects like math, science, and history however, left much to be desired. It started out as a necessity for me to pass and get good grades. After a while, I found that I liked reading fantasy and mystery novels more than textbooks. My brain was opened to the door of the great beyond. That’s where tales of superheroes and stories of ancient times reside. It was an escape that I desperately needed. An opportunity to tell alternative stories of the reality that I wanted rather than the one I actually lived in.


I was the kid with my head in the clouds. And if it wasn’t in the clouds it was tucked between the pages of whatever books I could get my hands on. I remember visiting the local library after school and getting lost in the mountain of books I picked up. Only to read half of them and then go back for even more. When I realized that I had too many stories of different realities that were too vast to be whittled down to fit into the mundane
formality of essays and articles, I turned to poetry and short stories. And they’ve had me in a choke hold ever since.


There’s something about poetry that bypasses your defenses and makes a crack in your walls. Something that forces you to recreate your whole foundation to make room for it. To repaint all the rooms in your house and open the windows to allow the light in. Something that allows you to finally let out the breath of fresh air you’ve held in anticipation for years. Something that feels like home.


To me, this is what it means to be a poet:


When you become a poet
By WayTaylor:


I read poetry for the same reason serial killers watch crime documentaries
Inspiration
I watch people perform poetry on YouTube for the same reason sex addicts watch porn
Entertainment
When you become a poet
Your brain no longer allows you to look at the world the same
It’s the reason I can make an analogy about criminals and sex workers and get snaps instead of getting canceled
It’s the only occupation that allows people to make an oxymoron sound smart
All poets are serial killers
With the way we use our pens as swords when we wordsmith our own blood over these pages
We are all murderers
With the way we publicly slaughter each victim on stage and call it art
We make each kill a part of our collections in the museums we make of our life stories
We open its doors and showcase our scars each time we perform
We allow people to come and go as they please as they gaze upon our bloody masterpieces
I guess you could call us sex addicts
What other name would you give a condition such as this
Where we willingly choose to show our most raw and vulnerable parts to the world
To which they can be used as inspiration
or entertainment
And that too can be considered our own form of therapy


Thank you, Way! For other poets, feel free to share why you write poetry in the comments! Or if you read poetry, why do you read it?

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