Co-created Poetry

Last week I attended the Solution Focus – London festive gathering.

Amongst the games we played was one in which we passed around sheets of paper, writing three words then passing it on, until the piece of paper arrived back in the hands of the first writer.

The resulting passages of writing delighted us all. We agreed these were all examples of legitimate poetry; providing an insight into the human condition, expressing perspective and emotion, and transporting the imagination.

We agreed there were interesting comparisons to be drawn from this experience with the process which takes place in solution focused conversations.

Both involve the co-creation of moments in time through the use of language, which affects all participants’ perception of reality.

We noticed that the shared nature of the creative process led to a sense of shared responsibility towards the outcome, a shared and therefore eased pressure, and a shared sense of satisfaction with the end product.

We were also struck by how much quicker we had written this many poems as a group, compared to what it would’ve been like if we had tried to write them individually.

We agreed it beautifully demonstrated the power of collaboration.

The resulting poems are presented below.

If you are a solution focused practitioner living in or near London, and you think you might be interested in joining our meetings (mainly, we reflect on our experience of working in a solution focused way and find ourselves inspiring each other), you are very welcome to join us via our meetup group here: https://www.meetup.com/Solution-Focus-London/

We currently meet monthly on a weekday evening, mutually agreed in advance each time, at the BRIEF offices in central London.

 

Supposing you were everyone you know.

What would you find pleasure in?

Pretty much everything, and yet I love being me.

Here, there, everywhere.

 

Every other direction seemed doomed, to be clear.

And I knew which was best.

Knew so well, I just reflected, knew so well.

 

Now is the moment of truth.

Here I stand.

Amongst the lies.

Head and shoulders, feet apart.

I rally the facts and weep no more.

 

The glaciers melt on the north face of Mount Everest.

Global warming is not cool.

When will people hear the crack and get wise?

 

The evening falls.

Alone am I

In the dark.

In the park.

It starts to rain and sleet.

Beyond the dark

All is well

 

It is good to take stock

when life prompts me to reflect on life’s joys

and how I embrace them most

I am glad!