Lauren’s spoken word poem was recorded for Bits + Pieces
Hello friends,
In school, I never thought I was that good at art. I didn’t make the best ceramics in class or the most beautiful paintings and therefore in my mind I wasn’t creative. But creativity is in everyone and looks different for everyone. Having people in my life that are exploring what creativity looks like to them, testing and executing their visions, inspires me to make my thoughts a reality, see how they go, and ultimately for me, have fun in the process and learn a little about myself along the way.
Two years ago I was in Paris with my friend Lauren. She’d started Poetry To Go and we were sticking tear-away poetry posters around the city (here I am!), finding the best quiche’s in Paris, and setting the world’s wrongs to right, having endless discussions around life and the intricacies of the weird and wonderful humans we are. On that same trip, Lauren and Paris-based guitarist Hadrian, performed for the first time together as a poetry and music collaboration, and just last week, they released their first EP, "Cordes Sensibles" (please listen to this now!!).
It feels like perfect timing to have Lauren contribute to Bits + Pieces this week. Whether you’ve explored poetry or not, I hope you are inspired and enjoy her art as much as I do. And if you’ve ever wanted to flex your creative muscle, she’s included some tips that helped her along the way and may encourage you to try something new. If I were you, I’d take this as a sign to get started ;)
Grateful to have you here.
Lauren lives between NYC and Paris and spends most of her time designing more empathetic AI for Google, scribbling poems or performing them to live music - in both French and English. In previous lives, she was a political speechwriter and an educator for multilingual kids.
She published her first book of poetry, Tongues Tied, in November 2021, and released her first poetry and music album "Cordes Sensibles" in collaboration with Paris-based guitarist Hadrien Remy last week.
So, my relationship with poetry didn't start with a bang. As a kid, after dabbling with words like I did with face paint - passionately but not necessarily delicately - the schooling I received made poetry feel rather remote and untouchable. I grew up in France where poetry is certainly revered but where the classes were focused on memorizing poems for recitation (aka public speaking cold sweats) or analyzing them over 8-page long essays. I never thought creative writing would be part of my plan.
That all changed in my mid-twenties when a break up broke open a trove of emotions that, apparently, had no interest in expressing themselves in any linear or narrative way. They frolicked about in spurts of metaphors and rimes, oftentimes on the tailend of my daily journaling. As I leaned into this writing practice I began to uncover the deeply healing power of poetry.
Lauren’s first book of poetry, Tongues Tied
What I discovered is that poetry is all about play, pleasure, self-awareness and belonging- all key for our wellbeing. The epidemic of loneliness is real. And having a poem put words on an experience you might not even be aware you had is a powerful way of feeling understood and seen. Writing poetry is great but reading it is enough to feel its benefits. And if you're more ROI than peace&love, Clare Morgan even wrote a fantastic book about what poetry brings to business. But enough prose, I hope you enjoy the spoken poem I recorded that puts all this goodness, and more, into action.
Where to start if poetry befuddles you like the word befuddle?
Pádraig Ó Tuama's podcast Poetry Unbound offers bite-size episodes in which he reads a poem and breaks it down for the listeners. His voice alone is worth it. I may or may not cry every time I listen to an episode.
How can you start writing?
Like I said, morning pages from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way is what did it for me. Brooklyn Poets also offers very generative workshops in person and online. They taught me my very first writing tools and I intend to go back to hone my craft with them over the years.
How can you learn more about poetry and wellbeing?
I share about this on social media and I also offer bespoke workshops for private groups, companies and educational organizations. Let's chat.
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