Draft, Edit, Submit #04: Finding Inspiration in the Self
April is celebrated as the National Poetry Month. As some poets do, I wanted to challenge myself in writing a poem a day.
Usually, I let poems come to me, and so I only write when an idea strikes me. However, this was different: I had to open a blank document and think on what I would have to write about. I also wanted to stick to one theme for the whole month. The purpose of poetry is often self-exploration or therapeutic, and hence I chose the theme of autism & self so that I get to know myself better in a creative way.
The first week was a breeze. I used day-to-day experiences, including ones that I experiences way too many times but never wrote about. As we approached the end of the month, I started to run out of innovative ideas, partly because it is hard to detach autism or the self from everything that happens in life. And in itself, this has been a revelation. I am who I am, all facets intertwined, and even the way I act in relationships and social situations is determined by my traits.
In the end, I managed to write more than thirty poems about being different and quirky and just being myself. In the process of writing, not only have I gotten to understand myself better, but I have gained a new perspective on my interpersonal relationships, as well as a deeper love for who I am. From an artistic perspective, I got to appreciate the value of ‘basic’ events and how we can create art from experiences that at face value, we might think of as mundane.
Overall, I am proud of my commitment and I’m extremely pleased with some of the poems I wrote. In fact, I already have a couple submitted. As for the rest, I’ll need to spend time to edit & rewrite, but they might make it into a chapbook or full-length someday.
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