How Your Inspirational Poems Can Uplift the World Around You

Have you ever read a written piece that seemed to stick with you? Maybe it perfectly expressed your thoughts and feelings at the time or described your most treasured dreams. Though they are only symbols set to a canvas, words carry immense weight. They can build or break the strongest ideologies, transform societies, and give new purpose to our lives.

Poetry, in its ability to evoke meaning, is a forceful tool. It allows for connection, communication, and catharsis, and acts as a powerful, direct avenue into the hearts of its readers. If you want to write inspirational poems that impact humankind for the better, there are plenty of ways to go about this. In the end, your poetry will be informed by your experiences and what subjects you feel will do the most good.

Meeting Others in Their Grief

Inspirational poems should not be seen as a cure-all when it comes to human emotion. Instead, they can meet people where they are, amid their sadness, mourning, and even anger. Grief is not a one-size-fits-all concept either, so the best you can do is write from the heart. Loss is universal, and it is in this universality that people can come together to share their stories and process their sorrow – and your poetry could be the catalyst in this journey.

Normalising Human Emotion

Society tends to organise emotions into positive and negative categories. Happiness, joy, and excitement, for example, are often seen as good. Feelings of rage, despair, and fear are usually considered bad or to be avoided. This black-and-white thinking means that we often miss out on opportunities for exploring the message our emotions are trying to communicate to us. Feelings are not good or bad, however, merely a signpost of something happening inside us. Inspirational poems that normalise all human emotion encourage readers to take a deeper look within.

Championing an Important Cause

Our global community is more advanced today than at any point in history, but there are still many social, economic, and environmental injustices occurring daily. If you are passionate about a specific cause, you can utilise inspirational poetry to motivate others to get involved, assist where possible, and volunteer their resources to help solve the issue. These causes might include:

• Uplifting impoverished and vulnerable communities
• Children’s rights
• Ending domestic violence and the abuse of women and children
• Education at every level of human development
• Environmental and climate change awareness movements
• Support and empowerment of previously disadvantaged groups
• Support and empowerment networks for oppressed minorities
• Movements supporting the equality of all human beings, regardless of identity intersectionality

Motivating Others to Express Themselves

We all know the feeling of wanting to speak up about something, but our resolve just seems to falter. It is only when one person finally plucks up the courage to speak the truth that others soon follow suit. Taking that first step and saying something important through your inspirational poems is sure to inspire others to do the same, an act that might set them free from years of painful emotional imprisonment.

You Can Shift Paradigms and Record History

Throughout the ages, poetry has been used as a marker of historical change. Think about South Africa’s own past. Think of how brave and outspoken artists and poets of the time used their voices to reflect the changes through which the country was going. While it is unlikely that a few inspirational poems will change the world, they can, and do, contribute to the direction a society follows. Artistic pieces depicting change, resistance, and the determination of a society’s people further shift the paradigms of the public at large. These pieces are also beacons representing and capturing important moments in time and offer a way for future readers to reflect on the past.

Offering a Glimmer of Hope

Everyone needs encouragement, affirmation, and acceptance. Inspirational poems reinforce that we all belong and that each of us has something to give to, and learn from, this world. Here at The AVBOB Poetry Project, we recognise that it is our human experiences of love, loss, and hope that link each human being into an enduring, ubiquitous chain. This is why we have given South African writers all over the country a platform to share their unique voice.

If you would like to find out more on these poems, visit our poem library and take part in our communal choir of universal beauty.