For Closet Poets: How to Claim Your Creative Identity
Do you write poetry but rarely if ever share it with other people? Does anyone even know you write poetry? Are you reluctant to call yourself a poet? Do you dream of publishing your poetry, but can’t bring yourself to move forward towards that aspiration?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you’re probably a closet poet, or a poet who hasn’t yet formally and publicly claimed that identity and embraced the full significance of his or her poetry and creative process.
Life in the Poetry Closet
In college, I was a closet poet. When the renowned poet Adrienne Rich visited our school, I was excited and eager to meet her. When I did, she asked me point-blank: “Are you a poet?” While I wrote poetry, and I was indeed a poet, I rarely shared my poetry with others and I had never publicly claimed that identity. So, my reply was: “No, I’m not a poet, but my friends are.”
At the time, I thought poets were only those artists who wrote brilliant poetry, not someone who, like me, was a mere beginner and who, like me, wasn’t formally trained to write poetry.
Why Come Out?
If you’re a closet poet and you’re reading this article, then you probably possess a deep desire to own your identity as a poet, to share your poetry with others, and to improve your writing skills.
By sharing your poetry with other poets and supportive friends and family members, you may just receive the necessary ego-boost and inner drive to work harder to improve your writing.
Plus, when done in a thoughtful way, sharing your poetry is fun and deeply rewarding, and you can’t reap the benefits of those rewards until you come out of the poetry closet.
Most significantly, if you’re dreaming of publishing your poetry, you won’t be able to take yourself or your poetry seriously enough to do so, until you come out as a poet.
Stepping Out as a Poet
If you’re a closet poet and desire the benefits of claiming your inner poet and sharing your poetry with others, here are some small, simple steps that might help you:
- Investigate your inner obstacles. Ask yourself: What’s preventing me from taking up the mantle of “poet” or “writer” or “artist”? Fear commonly keeps poets in the closet. We’re afraid of failure, afraid of success, and afraid of sharing our innermost thoughts and experiences with others. Also, sometimes, we judge our poetry to be “not good enough” to be shared. However, you might consider that all poets write bad poetry on occasions, and you simply will not be able to improve your poetry unless you claim your inner poet and start sharing your poetry.
- Claim your identity as a poet. Let me make this simple: If you love writing poetry, then you’re a poet. You may not be a professional poet or a published poet or even a great poet…yet, but nonetheless, your love for poetry and the fact that you write poetry are enough to claim yourself as a poet. So, say to yourself: “I’m a poet.” More significantly, tell others that you’re a poet. It’s by sharing with others the most profound parts of who we are that we come to empower our creative selves.
- Share your poetry with others. These days, there are so many ways to share your poetry. Show some of your poems to supportive friends and family members. Or run an internet search and find a local open mic where you can read your poetry. Or start a poetry blog on Blogger or WordPress. Or run a search and join an online social networking site for writers. Or take a workshop or join a writer’s group. Find ways to share your poetry that make you feel comfortable and safe until you’re willing to take bigger steps and larger risks.
Trust and Empower Your Inner Poet
When it’s time to come out as a poet and to start sharing your poetry with others, then you’ll feel it—an inner desire, a kind of bursting at the seams to let loose your inner poet and to write openly, freely, and confidently.
You may need to empower your inner poet by flexing your creative self-esteem, going head-to-head with your inner critic, and building a positive relationship with your inner coach before you feel secure and confident enough to claim your poet identity and start sharing your poetry.
However, in the end, all you really need in order to come out as a poet and to start sharing your poetry is creative desire, a dash of courage, and a little faith.
What questions do you have about coming out as a poet or sharing your work with others? Or what advice can you give to budding poets?
If you’ve enjoyed this article, feel free to share it.
Flickr photo courtesy of malik ml williams
Share15 Responses to “For Closet Poets: How to Claim Your Creative Identity”
Comments
Read below or add a comment...
Trackbacks
-
[...] all of your creative glory? Take inspiration from Ami Mattison’s latest poetryNprogress post, For Closet Poets: How To Claim Your Creative Identity. “When it’s time to come out as a poet and to start sharing your poetry with others, then [...]
Thanks for this- I re-posted it on my FB and introduced it by saying “Here goes. I’m a poet.”
[Reply]
Ami Mattison Reply:
January 9th, 2011 at 8:04 am
You really made my day by coming out as a poet on FB! I’m thrilled that you’re embracing your creative identity! Good luck!
[Reply]
Excellent post, Ami.
Joining a group such as SheWrites or any of the poets’ groups on the Web or via Twitter has been one of the best steps I’ve taken recently, not only for the connections but for the creativity that feeds off creativity.
Maureen´s last [type] ..All Art Friday
[Reply]
Ami Mattison Reply:
January 9th, 2011 at 8:13 am
Thank you, Maureen! You’ve offered some great advice. I hope you don’t mind that I mention here for my other readers how you got a book deal by sharing your amazing poetry with others on social networks. So, your experience is inspiring as it demonstrates how crucial social networking can be for expanding our creativity and our connections with publishers and other poets.
[Reply]
I think now we have the Internet it is much easier to ‘come out’ as a poet. For most of my life I was the only person I knew who wrote poetry and none of my friends had any interest. Then about fifteen years ago (which means I’d been writing poetry for over twenty years) I logged on for the first time and typed ‘poetry’ into a search engine (Lycos, I think as Google didn’t exist back then). As soon as all the entries appeared on my screen only one word came to mind: “Home.” Within a few days I was corresponding with poets from all over the world. It really was like I’d come home.
Jim Murdoch´s last [type] ..Hash
[Reply]
Ami Mattison Reply:
January 9th, 2011 at 8:20 am
What a marvelous story, Jim! My experience has shown me too how coming out is a kind of coming home. What’s interesting about “coming out” in general is how we’re continually doing so. Each time I build a positive connection with another poet/writer or fan, I feel all the more empowered in my identity and creativity.
Thanks, as always, for sharing your experience and insight!
[Reply]
Here’s a poem I wrote back in 1989 which says it all:
COMING OUT
“So you are a
practising poet?”
she asked,
and I felt unclean
and wanted my closet back.
23 March 1989
Jim Murdoch´s last [type] ..Hash
[Reply]
Ami Mattison Reply:
January 9th, 2011 at 8:23 am
Wow, Jim, it’s so interesting how back in 1989 you were keenly aware of how you were coming out as a poet and experiencing not only its positive rewards, but unfortunately its perils. Thanks for sharing your poem!
[Reply]
what a gift this post is to not only closet poets, but those of us who have one foot out, both feet out. awesome work, Ami! Damn, I love you girl!
sMichelle´s last [type] ..note to keeper of dark legs
[Reply]
Ami Mattison Reply:
January 11th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
Thank you, sMichelle, for your sweet words! I know you have both feet out on solid ground and are creating some amazing poetry. So, it’s good to hear that the article resonated with you in some way. Write on!
[Reply]
Ami, thanks for that great post. I am not a poet but I am a writer, in fact I declared myself to be awriter a year ago. The change has been fabulous. It is now my career and I am proud to say so. Claiming our identity is such an important thing to do.
Graham Phoenix´s last [type] ..What it is to be a Man – Learn from Life!
[Reply]
Ami Mattison Reply:
January 11th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
Thanks, Graham! Isn’t it amazing what happens when we finally take up the mantle of “writer”? There are so many rich rewards to be had. I’m glad you’ve discovered the pride and promise of claiming your creative identity. Keep writing!
[Reply]
Thank you for a great post. I shared it as a resource on my blog when I wrote about claiming one’s artistic identity.
http://katearmsroberts.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/claim-your-identity-as-an-artist/
[Reply]
I really love all the articles listed here and as inspirational and informative as they are I still can’t help but find myself wanting to stay in the closet. I love poetry (mostly haiku) and it’s so much fun for me but my problem is that I have a few friends smarter than me that write poetry on occasion (They’re not as fond of it as me but will every now and again); this bothers me because their poetry is so full of creativity and imaginative thoughts and my poetry is just some bland piece of writing and thus I end up feeling bad because I compare myself to them, I feel like my other friends would judge my writing based on the others. Another problem I have is that I have a habit of writing really short poetry (usually just one stanza/verse); they work but writing some long sonnet isn’t my cup of tea. I have been told once that I have a really gifted ability to write haiku but haiku poets don’t really get much credit and some small part of me wants to be noticed, recognized and appreciated. Any advice would be so great…
[Reply]