Why Poetry Speaks When Nothing Else Can: Finding Your Voice in Life's Threshold Moments
“Poetry addresses individuals in their most intimate, private, frightened and elated moments.” -W. S. Merwin
The Language Beyond Language
When was the last time words failed you? When the perfectly crafted email or carefully chosen phrase couldn't capture what was stirring in your heart?
There are moments in life when ordinary language falls short. When our daily lexicon falls short, cracks under the weight of what we're trying to express.
I am now 29 weeks pregnant with my son. The only answer I can give people who ask how I am is- “good.” But I am not good at all. I am a changing universe, imploding and exploding at once. I am a strange animal, new to myself. I have a double-life. Thankfully, there is always poetry:
It has made you feel alone
In a way you never knew before;
Everyone else sees only from the outside
What you feel and feed
With every fibre of your being.
-From “For a Mother to be” by John O’Donohue
It is exactly in the suspended times of our lives when we are moving across mighty thresholds- that poetry enters like a trusted friend, offering words for the wordless. This is poetry's singular gift: its ability to name what we thought was beyond naming.
Moving in Spirals of Truth
Unlike our emails and small talk, which march forward in orderly paragraphs, poetry moves in spirals. It circles around truth like a hawk riding thermal currents, seeing from new angles and heights. A single metaphor can illuminate years of lived experience.
I witnessed this recently in a session with a woman who hadn't written since high school. She was struggling to articulate her experience of leaving an unhealthy long-term relationship —the tenderness, the grief, the unexpected moments of hope. When I invited her to imagine herself as a bird singing, the words crashed like thunder from her heart:
“I sing to myself, come home.”
- Signature Course Participnat
The deepest part of her had spoken, and it was telling her to choose herself.
Unlocking Your Authentic Voice
All the women I have ever worked with, whether they were navigating empty nesting, career changes, divorce, caring for ageing parents, have been surprised by what they have been able to write in our sessions. How the right poem and writing prompt can unlock their authentic self-expression.
When we can relax our ‘should’s’ with language and let it flow, it takes us directly to the centre of ourselves and our innate wisdom.
If you would like to test this for yourself, try the writing prompt below.
Bring to mind a threshold you are currently crossing. Imagine it as a large field in front of you. Now imagine you begin walking across it, begin your writing with the line “With each step I take…”
An Ancient Practice of Connection
When we gather around poetry, we're not just reading or writing words on a page. We're engaging in an ancient practice of meaning-making, of finding language for the ineffable. We're joining a conversation that has been ongoing since humans first looked up at the stars and felt compelled to speak of what they saw.
And in our modern world, where connection often feels increasingly digital and distant, sharing poetry offers something vital: the reminder that our deepest experiences—love, loss, wonder, grief—are universally human. When a poem or a fellow-participant's words speak to us, it breaks through our isolation. It says: *you are not alone in feeling this way*.
Women in our poetry circles often experience:
Greater clarity in decision-making
Reduced anxiety during transitions
Deeper self-trust
Stronger sense of purpose
Finding Voice in the Unspoken
This is why we return to poetry in our most pivotal moments—births, deaths, marriages, departures. When ordinary words fail us, poetry steps forward with its vocabulary of metaphor and image, silence and sound, helping us navigate the territories for which no maps exist.
So perhaps we turn to poetry not because it offers answers, but because it helps us live more fully into our questions. It speaks not just to our minds, but to that quiet place within us that recognises truth when we hear it.
I think of Rainer Maria Rilke's famous lines:
"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves."
In the end, poetry speaks when nothing else can because it doesn't try to explain or solve. Instead, it bears witness. It holds space and mirrors ourselves back to us. It reminds us that our most profound experiences are part of a common human history. If I feel it, someone out there has written the lines to give it voice. Sometimes, that someone is me.
I have written many poems now about my pregnancy, helping me to stay connected to a language large enough for this immense experience.
The weight of you
child
heavy between my hipsThere are 9 unclaimed islands in the world
you are the 10th
suspended
my womb your cave wallIf I could see inside
there would be more ochre-ringed hand prints than the
Cuera de la Manos
all the time
I am here
I am here
I know you only as a downward motion
a lightning hunger
a longing to give life back to itself
I know you only as a mother knows her sonwith the impossible faith of a mountain river
May you find poetry within and around you that speaks what cannot be spoken, or left unsaid.
Begin Your Personal Journey With Poetry
If you are moving through a transition or transformation and want to connect with your inner voice and authenticity, send me an email with the subject line “CHANGE” and I will send you my FREE PDF workbook “10 lines of Poetry and Prompts: Your Companion Through Change.”
If a new beginning is what you are craving, join us this January for our online half-day Summer Seasonal Writing Retreat. We will explore how poetry can illuminate our personal journeys and provide renewed clarity of vision and purpose. Registrations open now.*
Here is what a past participant has said about this workshop:
"As someone who works in a very analytical field, I was sceptical about poetry therapy. But these workshops showed me how poetry can be a practical tool for processing emotions and finding clarity. It's now an essential part of my self-care toolkit." -Rachel, Hamilton Tech Professional
About the Author:
Suzy Willow is an experienced Poetry Therapy practitioner and facilitator specialising in supporting professional women through life transitions. Known for her gentle guidance and intuitive prompts, Suzy creates safe spaces for women to explore their inner landscapes through poetry. Through individual guidance and group sessions, she helps women find their voice and vision during periods of change.