or How memorizing poetry gave me everything I didn’t know I needed for my hero’s journey
A friend gifted me a poetry book for Christmas, handing it over with an apology: “I don’t really get poetry.”
Oh, friend. Whoever told you had to get it?
The book is “Call Us What We Carry” by Amanda Gorman, a Now-poet. The day I began reading it I also encountered a sonnet by a Then-poet, John Milton. Both had something to say to me, something beyond understanding.
Because I don’t read poetry to understand it. I read it to steal what I need.
When it comes to poetry, I am a Rainbow Crow, swiping every sparkly word, every bright line, every delicious stanza. Each month I take a poem to my secret stash-nest and cuddle. By the end of the month I’ve learned it by heart (usually). Then I release it back to the wild — here, there, and on Soundcloud.
When Tweetspeak Poetry suggested I begin a poetry memorization practice, I didn’t know how, lunar turn by lunar turn, I would be getting the gifts I need for my hero’s journey, poem by poem.
Poetry understands me. The poet may not know what stage of my never-ending story I am at today, but the poem knows. A Then-poem has traveled many journeys and knows mine is no different. A Now-poem knows mine is unique to this very moment. For a few minutes I steep in beauty, and all is well.
Would you like to join me? You can — for the next fourteen weeks.
The Hero’s Poetry Journey starts January 13!
I’ll share poems I’ve memorized that correspond to the stages of the hero’s journey. If you like one of the poems, consider memorizing it yourself. (Here’s how!) Or find your own poem, perhaps one that winks at you and begs you to zoom out of the clouds and snatch it.
Most days I don’t feel like a hero. I’d say, along with Emily Dickinson, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” But I am on a journey. We all are. Who knows what poems might be made from our steps.
“Megan Willome has captured the essence of crow in this delightful children’s collection. Not only do the poems introduce the reader to the unusual habits and nature of this bird, but also different forms of poetry as well.”
—Michelle Ortega, poet and children’s speech pathologist
