This is a subject I’ve been wrestling with. I’m interested in what you think about cathartic poetry, which I’m writing to help me (and others) make sense of, and come to terms with, the abuse in a past relationship. I felt confused and that I had no control and because my partner was a covert narcissist, no one could see what was going on. The words I use are my way of taking back some control, even if anonymously. The words used against me harmed me, but these allow me to form my expediences in a way that clarify what happened out of all the manipulation. Is this positive? Is it negative? Is it important to use these words to help those still in a situation like this, so they can recognise the gaslighting and get out, or just feel that someone else has been there and they understand? It can be so confusing and you can feel powerless, weak, ashamed. Are my words, recreating those past experiences, negative, if they help a person move on from what their mind has been trapped in for so long?
Thank you for sharing Mae. A creation to be read the way it was intended to be received is just like a movie or a song. It will always be there.
The question is, are you still holding onto the past? Writing is a way of us getting those emotions out of the body. If you keep going back to the same moments, then these are things to bring awareness to and let them go.
We often want the change from other people, or for others to take on what we share. We can never control the way they show up, nor can we determine how they will take on these words
We all have our own interpretation and meaning of words. The more negative words used, the more likely they can get miss understood from people in a negative space. Are the negative words balanced out with soulful words and solutions?
This is why words can never be the full truth, they are just pointers and reminders.
Thanks for your response Harry - it reminded me why I started writing in the first place.
I started writing because the gaslighting affected my perspective and my memory about what was real and what was true. The poems that I constructed as a form of journaling helped me to quickly write the essence of what was going on around me without analysing too much (which I am wont to do and I find it exhausting). In the process, I started to see more clearly what I’d been subjected to and could name it. Naming it gave me strength. Strength allowed me to keep moving forward. Moving forward got me to the place I wanted to be (away from my ex). Those words had power because they aren’t a reminder of abuse, but a reminder that I was worth more than what I was experiencing on a daily basis, and also, that I wasn’t what I was being told I was. In the act of writing I recreated myself and renamed myself.
I suppose my words can be taken in a negative or positive light once they are out of my hands, but isn’t that the case with any creation? The artist has a particular message in mind; the person who views it, dependent on their personality, life experience, intention etc etc, perceives it in their own unique way. I realise it’s more complex than this, but on a simple level, this is what happens anyway.
This is a subject I’ve been wrestling with. I’m interested in what you think about cathartic poetry, which I’m writing to help me (and others) make sense of, and come to terms with, the abuse in a past relationship. I felt confused and that I had no control and because my partner was a covert narcissist, no one could see what was going on. The words I use are my way of taking back some control, even if anonymously. The words used against me harmed me, but these allow me to form my expediences in a way that clarify what happened out of all the manipulation. Is this positive? Is it negative? Is it important to use these words to help those still in a situation like this, so they can recognise the gaslighting and get out, or just feel that someone else has been there and they understand? It can be so confusing and you can feel powerless, weak, ashamed. Are my words, recreating those past experiences, negative, if they help a person move on from what their mind has been trapped in for so long?
Thank you for sharing Mae. A creation to be read the way it was intended to be received is just like a movie or a song. It will always be there.
The question is, are you still holding onto the past? Writing is a way of us getting those emotions out of the body. If you keep going back to the same moments, then these are things to bring awareness to and let them go.
We often want the change from other people, or for others to take on what we share. We can never control the way they show up, nor can we determine how they will take on these words
We all have our own interpretation and meaning of words. The more negative words used, the more likely they can get miss understood from people in a negative space. Are the negative words balanced out with soulful words and solutions?
This is why words can never be the full truth, they are just pointers and reminders.
Thanks for your response Harry - it reminded me why I started writing in the first place.
I started writing because the gaslighting affected my perspective and my memory about what was real and what was true. The poems that I constructed as a form of journaling helped me to quickly write the essence of what was going on around me without analysing too much (which I am wont to do and I find it exhausting). In the process, I started to see more clearly what I’d been subjected to and could name it. Naming it gave me strength. Strength allowed me to keep moving forward. Moving forward got me to the place I wanted to be (away from my ex). Those words had power because they aren’t a reminder of abuse, but a reminder that I was worth more than what I was experiencing on a daily basis, and also, that I wasn’t what I was being told I was. In the act of writing I recreated myself and renamed myself.
I suppose my words can be taken in a negative or positive light once they are out of my hands, but isn’t that the case with any creation? The artist has a particular message in mind; the person who views it, dependent on their personality, life experience, intention etc etc, perceives it in their own unique way. I realise it’s more complex than this, but on a simple level, this is what happens anyway.
This is brilliant and easy to understand.
Thank you so much for your comment