Poems that simplify the complex, with Hannah Napier Rosenberg
Poetry (pen) Pals #21
Having had two weeks away, this weekend I treated myself to a lovely coffee, a lovely read back over some comments and a lovely scroll through my Substack inbox.
Sometimes ‘catching up’ can feel like hard work, even when said catching up is something that you enjoy. I think it’s the lingering sense of never having enough time (not entirely true of course, I give plenty of my time away carelessly, I can more consciously choose where I spend it and practise giving myself permission to be entirely ‘unproductive’), mixed with the very real fact that my brain regularly feels close to capacity in terms of content and information to digest. So any build up or backlog of content can feel overwhelming.
And yet, the world carries on regardless. Isn’t that a relief. There is plenty more great writing yet to be written and plenty of great writing that isn’t going anywhere.
Plus I am reminded that this community has such a strong, beating heart that you can drop in and out without feeling ‘behind.’ When you’re free to play you can share and/or respond to others and when you’re not, that’s ok.
When approached with this mindset, ‘catching up’ is not a chore. Catching up is actually not ‘catching up’ at all but rather accepting that you are where you are, beginning again at your own new start line. Some may have already done a lap (or a few laps) and ooh is it more enjoyable to watch this from afar, wait for them to come round and scoop you up again (they will) as opposed to chasing round the track sweating yourself stupid (I’m not a big fan of running, you might have gathered, ha).
Rather than ‘needing to catch up,’ or deciding, ‘there is just too much to read on Substack,’ I’m using the reframe, ‘how brilliant that I get to have a carefree browse through such excellent writing’. A glance back through the best bits for an hour. I may not have written much actual poetry for my #yearof100poems stack but I have collected plenty of raw material. A little stretch of the legs before starting again. Mmmm nice. So much brilliant poetry has been shared on here. I am never not blown away by the talent and support for each other within this community.
And would you look again at the strangely serendipitous nature of this whole project! Oh my goodness does it continue to delight. If you read the comments on last Fridays round up post you’ll shortly see what I mean.
This week my friends, we are joined by a poet that I have admired from afar for a few years now. Her poem, ‘Same’ is one that I messaged to numerous friends after discovering it. You know a poem has entirely captured a feeling when you immediately want others to experience it.
Amassing a rightfully huge following on Instagram for her poems that cut right to the heart of topics like friendship, womanhood and motherhood, I felt sure that we would love her poem choice.
Welcome, Hannah Napier Rosenberg
:Good Bones by Maggie Smith is a poem I always go back to read, over and over. I love it for so many reasons. If I ever got a tattoo, the line "you could make this place beautiful" would definitely be a contender.
The poem puts into words extremely complex and complicated feelings and makes them feel so accessible. On a daily basis, it's universal to struggle with the dichotomy of wanting to love the world and see it as a good, happy place and grappling with the horrors that seem to happen all the time. Like, you can be out in the sunshine all day, having a picnic or bike riding and be like wow, the world is so pure and amazing and then come home and scroll through the news on your phone and feel despondent.
The feeling of wanting to sell my child on the beauty of the world is something that has been on my mind since becoming a mother. When I was pregnant, my husband and I had a conversation about what we wanted to teach our child and the one thought that came to my mind was that I wanted my child to learn to look for and find the good in people.
The metaphor of a crappy home/ a realtor trying to sell a buyer on the potential of it, and adults trying to sell children on the fact that they could indeed make the world more beautiful - it's brilliant and simple and complex and heartbreaking and soul soothing all at the same time!
I often find myself wanting to take a complex feeling and make it accessible through poetry - mostly because it feels therapeutic for me to have the moment of "ahh yes that is how I feel, but I only now realised it now through writing".
Your writing prompt for this week:
So with that, I would invite you to think about a complex topic, feeling, emotion, thought that you could simplify in a poem.
Happy writing!
You can read more of Hannah’s words and buy her poetry prints from her website here. She also writes over on Instagram and here on Substack:
Thank you Hannah, looking forward to reading poems that simplify something complex later in the week,
Nelly x
P.s If you are new to Poetry Pals, there are two posts per week (occasionally a third). On a Friday there is a round up post sharing more poetry on the theme/prompt which was introduced the previous Sunday. Subscribe below and come play…
‘…this community has such a strong, beating heart that you can drop in and out without feeling ‘behind.’ When you’re free to play you can share and/or respond to others and when you’re not, that’s ok.’ 🤍
Hope you had a good break/change/time away Nelly xx
hilariously my brain is flooded by simplifying the complex. whether i get to writing a whole piece or just some (hopefully) beautiful bones. i will try and share my thoughts on friday. but your prompt has difinately done that.