Molly Puckett - The Flow of Poetry

Throughout reading the assigned chapter in American Camino, I have come to realize that flow is not something that is wholly theoretical. It is something that we experience everyday. Flow is the natural ability to immerse oneself in something and lose track of time. One may experience flow in many different ways. For myself, I believe that my interactions with writing and reading poetry are where I most experience flow.

In order to write poetry (or more specifically: write good poetry), I need to be in a certain head space. I have a hard time sitting down and writing a poem. What do I write about? What form do I use? What goal am I trying to achieve in writing this poem? Am I writing for an audience or am I writing for myself?

If I try to write without inspiration striking or without the aid of flow, I find doubt creeping into my thoughts. Why am I doing this? What am I doing? There are so many other things I should be doing right now. These thoughts can cloud my mind, causing me to write poetry that reflects this doubt in myself instead of poetry that reflects the intricate workings of my thoughts.

I can’t control when I want to write or what I want to write about. I can’t control when I experience flow. Inspiration strikes at random moments. I have written poems on napkins, in the Notes app of my phone, and in school notebooks. It often comes at the most unexpected times, when I am most unprepared. The idea of controlling flow is one that interests me. In American Camino, there is an emphasis on the rhythm and routine of walking the trail. It may seem boring for some, the constant thump, thump, thump of footsteps on a dirt path. But this rhythm, this constancy, is what can facilitate flow on the trail.

If there is nothing to do but think and walk and observe, the brain may wander to explore the unknown in the depths of our mind. We may not expect our minds to conjure up certain things. It may surprise us, shock us, maybe even horrify us. Nonetheless, as humans, we are servants to the mind, and therefore, flow will come and go, uncontrolled. So, is it possible for us to control or initiate flow through repetitive and constant action? Is it our connection with nature that initiates flow? Can flow only happen throughout connectedness with religion? With mother nature? With ourselves and with self awareness? If we can understand how to enter flow, can we truly control it?

Flow can result in the exploration of religion, much like in the assigned American Camino chapter. When left to our own devices, the mind wanders and may turn to theological ideas. The creation of earth with Adam and Eve, Noah’s Arc, Moses and the ten commandments, Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, etc. These stories later turn into prayer: a conversation between ourselves and God.

` The intersection between prayer and flow is an interesting one. Growing up Catholic, I was taught that prayer is a conversation. It’s a two-sided relationship between yourself and our creator. Does this mean that flow happens at all times when we are in prayer? Are flow and prayer the same? Prayer happens constantly, whereas flow only happens sometimes, when one is aware of themselves and connected with the world around them. They may happen simultaneously, however, I do not believe they are one in the same.

Aside from being a spiritual vessel of sorts, I believe that flow is also a facilitator of creativity. Maybe it’s possible for flow and inspiration to be synonyms in some contexts. In terms of poetry or art, what are the differences between inspiration and flow? Is it even important to see the differences? Are these two subjects one in the same? Is it more important to understand the existence of flow and inspiration rather than dissecting them?

However, I think dissecting a topic can sometimes cause it to lose its “magic” or its “mysticism.” If we understand everything about a subject, why should we bother exploring things we already know? Is it just our human nature that thirsts for the knowledge of things we do not understand? I think this is something to explore eventually, however, if I were to explore this further, I think I would be shifting away from my original purpose in this reflection.

I want to shift back to how flow connects with both the reading and writing of poetry. I think an important factor of flow is the awareness of self. For many, poetry is an outlet to express oneself. I often use poetry as a journal of sorts, not to record the actions of my day but to record my swirling emotions. I use poetry to explore the world around me. It is a way that I can interact with the unknown without risk. I can write poems about my questions, fears, joys, and anxieties. I can use motifs and symbols to expand the poem’s reach.

Poetry is not just words on a paper. It’s not just the opposite of prose. When aided by flow, by the awareness of self and the world around us, poetry is a record of human experience and emotion. When thinking about poetry in this way, it is very similar to how we have talked about myths. Myths and poems are often one-in-the-same. Myths aren’t false stories that explain natural phenomena, they are records of human experience from ancient times. Many myths are even written in a poetic form, such as Beowulf, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and The Iliad and The Odyssey. Poems facilitate myths, much like flow can facilitate creativity and awareness, which can result in these poems and myths. Flow is the mother of creativity, of self awareness, and of exploration. Even though we cannot control it, without flow, we would not be so aware of the world around us and we wouldn’t be able to write poetry which explores that world around us.