Poetic Psychology has nothing to do with analyzing a poem, nor must one assume that like recognized psychology believes, there is something that needs to be fixed. No, this is the kind of framework that treats each poem as a living psyche, unfathomable and yet accessible and fully encompassing our thoughts and lives like that of our own souls.

Heraclitus, perhaps one of the first true psychologists, said that the soul (psyche) was boundless, with depths beyond our searching–”You could not find the ends of the soul though you travelled every way, so deep is its logos“.

In this way, each poem does indeed have its own logos, its own divine knowing that speaks to the logos within our own souls. When a poem is allowed to speak in this way, we experience a recognition, a lifting of the mind beyond its limitations. That is what all good poetry should do.

In our modern literate world, everyone seems to be a poet. And unfortunately, poems are like people. Some have egos that get in the way of that truth, some run around in circles, clouded with the senses and unable to step back for a moment to understand. More common are those obsessed with the Shadow side of the psyche–all monsters, death, murderers and sex offenders. Other poems are shallow, some are insightful and inspiring, and more and more a few manage to break free and shine! True wild and untamed poetry is as endangered as any of our other ancient animals. And it is just as important.

With such an inundation of “words” around us all the time, you get the dreadful monster of neurotic poetry which although not dysfunctional like psychotic poetry, is far worse because it is harder to spot. Neurotic poetry is poetry that has become self-conscious and lost in a myriad of phobias or mind-numbing projections, trapped in patterns of words and metaphors that stare back with empty eyes of meaninglessness. Poetry suffering from neurosis bites its nails over disorders, depression and dis-ease; it’s a hypochondriac, suffering from addiction, anxiety, cynicism, fantasies and aggressive perfectionism  Sometimes it puts on a brave and whimsical face, but it is so fake and rigid that even the psychotic poems don’t like it!

What Jung said about his clients can be said of neurotic poetry: “I have frequently seen people become neurotic when they content themselves with inadequate or wrong answers to the questions of life.” * How terribly sad but true!

Even more telling though is neurotic poetry’s inability to grow in complexity, depth and variety, for neurosis is defined as the “poor ability to adapt to one’s environment, an inability to change one’s life patterns, and the inability to develop a richer, more complex, more satisfying personality.“** In other words, this is poetry that has stopped evolving, stopped contributing to the never-ending Conversation, stopped living from its center of truth.This is poetry that needs to be transformed, awakened, to undergo the Hero’s Quest in order to claim its right to its Poetic Heritage. And feral poetry has done just that.

Sure, you could try counselling on the poor poem–treatments, popping pills, cognitive behavior therapy, give it religion or a “spirituality”, make it feel good about itself …. but in the end, none of it will work. I promise.

Instead, poetry needs love (pay attention to it, attract the muse to you), a good meal (something that will stoke your imagination, not rot your brain), and a great deal of honesty with yourself and the blank page in front of you. There is no magical formula like Open Sesame, no self-help books or manual … not even a cure-all. No, poetry has to remember, re-learn how to be feral, how to be comfortable in its own skin, how to ask questions without getting discouraged, how to be a poem again.

And before you can write feral poetry, you have to learn how to do the same things, as a human being, reclaiming your senses, your innate curiosity, happiness and wonder.

Because remember, poems are like people … the people who write them.

* Jung, C.G. [1961] (1989). ‘Memories, Dreams, Reflections, New York, N.Y.: Vantage Books. ISBN 0-679-72395-1

** Boeree, Dr. C. George. “A Bio-Social Theory of Neurosis”, 2002.

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