Hi everyone! I hope your week has gone well. I’m so excited to have Gretchen Gomez on here today. I’ve followed Gretchen on Twitter for quite a while so when putting together Poetic Justice, I knew I wanted to ask her to participate. I’ve loved seeing excerpts of her poems on Instagram. I need to seriously read her book, love, and you soon after hearing such amazing high praises. Today is love, and you’s one year book anniversary. You can get the ebook for free on Amazon today until April 8th.
Poetic Justice is a month long event, beginning April 1st to April 30th in honor of National Poetry Month. Throughout April there will be interviews, guest posts, excerpts and other poetic posts. I hope you will follow along. To read the introductory post, read about my poetic background as well as the schedule for the month, you can find out more here.
Benefits of Reading Poetry
Hey everyone! Happy national poetry month. On today’s post, I wanted to go over some benefits of reading poetry. Poetry is personal and although many look for poetry that resonates with their own being, poetry can also help you learn and understand things differently from the poet’s perspective. Not resonating with someone’s work doesn’t mean that the poet doesn’t know how to write. Poetry is beautiful and beneficial for the self. Here are some benefits of reading poetry:
Self-Acceptance– There are many poetry books out there that reflect on gender, identity, race/ethnicity, body, mental illness/health, amongst other things that make up who we are as humans. Sometimes it can be that one poetry book that will not make us feel so lonely in this world, a recognition of “wow someone gets me”. Maybe that poetry collection is the answer you’ve been searching for. The breath of fresh air knowing that this is who you are and it is okay.
Courage – Some poetry books reflect on a journey, a journey from point a which can be something toxic to point b where they’re no longer around that toxicity (person, place, or thing). There are also poems in poetry collections of courage. Maybe it’s the push you’ve been needing to stand up for yourself and take courage to remove yourself from whatever harms/hurts you.
Healing – There are poetry books that talk about self-healing. Let it be from a heartbreak (romantic and/or friendship), abuse (all kinds), hurting oneself with one’s thoughts, etc. There can a poem out there for you that may help you reflect on getting the healing you deserve, on starting that journey of healing, on moving forward.
Learning– Like I stated above; some poetry collections reflect on gender, identity, race/ethnicity, body, mental illness/health, etc. Many of us aren’t going to relate to certain poems that mention these things. However, it can definitely open our minds and maybe even break ways of thinking in order to understand that writer’s life and their experiences. I have read books where I didn’t experience one ounce of the writer’s life but I finished that book with appreciation and knowing that someone out there needs that book.
Strength/Empowerment– Are you feeling down, out of sorts, not real? There’s so much poetry out there that will give you the strength you need and even empower your soul in order to uplift yourself. There’s something purifying in reading poems that mark you and make you bold to do that one thing. That one thing can be whatever you need it to be.
Self-Love/Self-Care – In the society that we are living, there’s still the savior complex where we “need” someone to love us and we “need” someone to care for us in order for everything wrong to go away. I’m so happy that there are poetry collections which break that complex, that talk about loving yourself and how it’s okay to put yourself first and take care of you. How, yes it’s okay to feel everything and still rely on yourself. To look at the beauty within and know your own needs.
That is it for today! Thank you so much Amber for having me! I want to preface by saying that these are only some benefits to reading poetry, I don’t know all the benefits because remember: poetry is personal.
Gretchen Gomez is a writer and blogger from Bronx, New York. First generation Puerto Rican. She’s been writing poetry since the age of 11 and although silenced for many years, she cut the ties with silence. “love, and you” is her first published poetry collection and she is working on other collections at the moment. Gretchen makes art out of all her past experiences.
You can find her here:
blog: chicnerdreads.wordpress.com
twitter: chicnerdreads
instagram: chicnerdreads
tumblr: chicnerdreads.tumblr.com
one day i met a guy
who stole my heart,
we created a world
for ourselves.
and another day
he broke my heart
and shattered
my soul.i took the tattered
pieces of this
broken soul and
became anew.– here lies the hurting, the healing, and the learning
(please be advised this book has mature content)
Buy love, and you: Book Depository, Barnes and Noble, Amazon or get the free ebook on Amazon!
How great was that guest post? I loved reading about the different benefits of reading poetry. It makes me even more interested in reading it, especially when it can cover so many different topics. Thank you so, so much, Gretchen for the amazing post and being on my blog! ❤ Readers, don’t forget to enter the giveaway to win one physical book or one ebook.
Leave a Reply