When asked how to help young readers appreciate poetry, the poet Mary Oliver said, “Emphasize their response in terms of feeling. We give far too much focus to understanding in our educational systems. Don’t ask them what the poem is about. Ask them, ‘How does it make you feel?’”

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As you read poems, listen to them, and speak them aloud, try meeting them as you would a piece of music. Allow your rational brain to relax. Dare to not understand, to lose your grip on making sense of the words. Let the images, like musical notes, pour over you. The French philosopher Gaston Bachelard writes that poetry “comes before thought…[R]ather than being a phenomenology of the mind, [poetry] is a phenomenology of the soul.”

~ Excerpt from Kim Rosen‘s beautiful book, Saved By A Poem: The Transformative Power of Words. 

* On some Tuesdays, I share insights, tips or quotes to inspire our writing and other creative pursuits.