The Tortured Poet

What does it mean, to be a tortured poet?

Well, the premise of writing poetry is torture

Poetry is the closest you can get to bottling a feeling to last longer than the moment

Poetry is encapsulating the whirlwind of a moment, holding contradictions and outbursts

Endings and new beginnings together by something as fragile as words

If you are a poet, you are distracted

If you are a good poet, you are tortured

Distracted, because you’re day is constantly interrupted by thoughts of “how would I bring this feeling back?” “How would I hold this feeling in words?” “How do I bottle this moment?”

Tortured, because your writing is constantly interrupted by things 

Even this poem, as I write, and attempt to put the words together I catch myself; “well, I can’t call my housework mundane, because it gives me joy. How can I convey the contradiction that is my frustration at not being able to sit and write all day, and my simultaneous joy that I have a family? That I take care of my family and my home? 

This is what makes a poet tortured

You cannot ignore the beauty, the contradictions, the magnitude of humanity