Poetry for sharing emotions

Poetry provides an optional method for sharing emotions. Children and teens struggling with issues of feeling different, or being bullied, or grief and loss, or life-changing challenges need to share their emotions in order to find relief and help in moving forward. Even for kids who have never written poetry, the intrigue and challenge may encourage them to share their feelings in a new way.

In Poetry Everywhere, the author says, “It is… the nature of poetry to shake things up and engage the imagination.” So, point your children or clients towards poetry and see if you can shake out a few of their emotions, giving voice to their inner thoughts and feelings.

A simple poem format is a lune. Lunes have three words for the first line, five for the second, and three for the third. That’s it! The format is simpler than a haiku which is based on syllables. Here are a couple of examples:

Our Dog
Misty is black
and old and crinkly stiff
We love her.

Mommy
I love you
Wonderful mommy, beautiful and kind
Missing you already

Alone
I sit alone
No one comes to me
Please see me

You can have a child write three lunes about the same topic. Or, you could have them weave together several lunes into one poem. Start off with a simple, unemotional topic like a season or a place. Then give them emotion words to work with–angry, alone, lost, determined, or depressed. See what they come up with. It might just be another way to find out what’s inside and to help them let those feelings out.

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Reference: Poetry Everywhere–Teaching Poetry Writing in School and in the Community, by Jack Collom and Sheryl Noethe, 2005.