Take a moment to reflect on anything recent that may have happened. Now, take a moment to reflect on a distant memory from the past. Go back even further with a memory from many years ago.
When you were reflecting, did you have inner-dialogue with yourself? Something along the lines of: “I remember when…” or “This one time…” These are normal internal conversations that you have when reflecting on memories.
Now imagine a conversation that you would have with a family member, friend, or another person about your memories. How would the regaling of your memory to another person pan out? Depending on the memory, the length could take a hot minute or more than an hour.
But what if you had to convey a memory to a million people? Having a million people sit or stand around for you to convey your memory for a minute is impossible. Let alone an hour. How would you go about conveying your memory then?
The answer is quite simple: poetry. Poetry is a type of artistic writing to attempt to stir an audience’s imagination or emotions. Quite simply put: poetry allows you to convey meaning in your own words that can be universally understood by anyone.
Poetry is a structured format of literature that can be represented in a formula. According to the YouTube video What makes a poem … a poem? – Melissa Kovacs by Ted-Ed, poems consist of three unique things:
Writing a poem can be a rather difficult process; without knowing how to write a poem, an example is needed. In the YouTube video How to Read and Write a Poem | Learn English Poetry with Homework by Shaw English Online, the representative gives an example of a modern poem. The example demonstrates that each sentence is broken with a comma, rhymes with the following sentence using a rhyme scheme, and contains a stanza. Keep in mind that the example given is a traditional model of poetry writing and is not an absolute.
Taking the example and the information of what a poem is, you can now start to write your own poem on a personal memory. As an example:
Reading a New Pondersaur Blog Post
Today, I visited Pondersaur,
To read the new blog post.
Together with a dinosaur,
We were engrossed.
When we came to this poem,
We were inspired to write.
Poem after poem,
We readily began with delight.
This might not be a great example, but the idea certainly gets across. Poems are multicultural; other countries around the world have their own unique poetry writing. Interestingly enough, poetry can be cross-cultural forms of communication.
One cultural form of poetry writing that is unique to a specific country is a haiku from Japan. Haiku are a similar form of poetry, however, they are unique only to the Japanese culture specifically.
A haiku is a focus on a brief moment in time, juxtaposing two images, creating a sense of enlightenment. Reflecting on a memory using a haiku is certainly a viable option. In the YouTube video How To Write A Haiku Poem (Step-by-Step Tutorial) by Helpful DIY, a haiku is broken into:
Haiku also have specific word usage. Each line is roughly a single short sentence with enough context to convey an emotion. Usually, the first line starts the tone of the haiku, as the third and final line deepens the impact of the resounding emotion. Another example of how you would write a haiku for a memory might go something like:
Pondersaur Blog Posts
Are Always Interesting
Leaving You Thoughtful
The compelling interest of how you use a haiku is the same as a traditional written poem. The biggest difference is the amount of words used. Haiku are simple, direct, straightforward, and deep with emotion.
Reflection on memories using poetry is something that you could start doing to creatively tell others. Poetry in-and-of-itself is a great means of simplifying your thoughts and words into powerful meanings. While all of this sounds great, is poetry still a valid means of something that people use today?
If we look at the data collected on WordsRated.com, the simple and convenient answer to all of this is: no. The data shown expresses a very small fraction of people around the world who read poetry. Poetry is not even used as an everyday conversational communication style. Instead, the topic of poetry is very niche. In other words, poetry is kind of special and unique.
Being poetic about your language is now a sort of individualistic personality style. You can express yourself using poetry, which can showcase how idiosyncratic of a person you are to others. Not only that, but being able to use poetry to reflect on all of your day-to-day activities can be a fun and exciting activity personally.
Poetry is an unused method of reflection nowadays. Which is why using the literary and artistic style of poetry is a great way to become an uncommon person. You can demonstrate the power of poetry once again with the simple and freethinking practice that was developed centuries ago.
The name “Pondersaur” means “words with a roar” alluding to the creature’s distinct communication.
