This chapter had me feeling all sorts of different ways and I suppose that that’s probably a good thing since that seemed to be the theme. The thing that I found to be the most interesting was the concept of the shadow and the long bag that each of us carry around with us every day. Although each of our bags may look the same, they are each filled with a variety of different truths, encompassing those which we are often too afraid to reveal to others out of fear of criticism or even rejection. This concept was definitely something that resonated with me. I thought it was interesting and necessary to unpack the simple fact that this fear is something that all of us deal with whether it be easily or difficult, obvious or hidden, or conscious or unconscious.
One thing that I found to be particularly helpful within this chapter was the mention of getting uncomfortable and how important it is to really envelop yourself in the messiness of life in order to produce something that will resonate with readers. This is a concept that I’ve struggled with since my journey with creative writing began because it’s not something that comes to us very naturally. Being vulnerable is difficult. However, it’s good to know that there’s a circle of trust around poets and writers who are able to get down to that deep and uncomfortable level in order to create a quality piece of work. Another thing that I also found to be helpful and also interesting was the suggestion that we should all get in the headspace of trying to notice everything in detail. In order to create a poem that can effectively show rather than tell, we as poets need to pick up on key details that maybe aren’t so obvious to others upon first glance.
One curiosity that I had after reading this chapter was about the poem ‘Sunday Morning’. Was it based on a true story and if so, did that actually happen to a cat? It very much concerned me, and in the way it was supposed to, reading it made me very uncomfortable.
