Poetry and Making Sense of Life: Brion K. Hanks’ Poem

May 9th, 2023 7:03 am | by Blog Contributor Posted in Poetry

Poetry enhances literature through its structure and unique way of conveying messages and making sense of life.

Society wouldn’t exist without poets. Across ages and cultures, people have their dominant, essential texts, and poetry has always managed to secure a place. Poetry is the pillar of humanity, binding everyone together. It reaffirms that everyone, regardless of where or who they are, shares the same experiences and feelings and asks the same questions.

Poetry is through which people communicate their innermost thoughts and emotions. By weaving words together, people express their sensibilities, bearing their vulnerabilities to the world. It helps them uncover themselves down to their most profound, most basic existence.

Making Sense of the World Through Poetry

Through poetry, people can make sense of themselves and the world around them. As it is typically written amid extreme emotions, poetry taps into people’s feelings and senses altogether. It bridges both, creating connections between them, thus helping people intellectualize or gain clarity about their surroundings.

Poetry opens people’s minds to the world through another person’s eyes. Reading them equates to seeing and experiencing things differently, building more insights about the world.

Poetry is about making sense of the world through others. It helps people give meaning to collective experiences. People experience similar events that teach them the same lessons regardless of where they are.

For instance, everyone gets their hearts broken. And at least once in their lives, they will go through grief or an immense state of happiness. People have collective experiences they need to understand and express. And it’s through poetry that they’ll make sense of these ambiguous situations and feel a sense of relief, releasing their sensitivities for others to hear.

Life Through Poetry

Life shouldn’t be filled with regrets. Leave those behind and choose to take on life confidently, knowing that what the future holds entirely depends on the individual. This is the primary message readers can cultivate in Brion K. Hanks’ inspirational poetry and prose titled Find Your Way.

Life is as complex as it is, confusing people toward having countless curiosities. It makes one wonder reasons behind their existence and the causes of their experiences. Brion K. Hanks aims to break its complexities down through these four stanzas of poetry. Find Your Way is making sense of what life is and how people can live through it better.

Mr. Hanks aims to help people grasp its essence, comforting and reassuring his readers that they aren’t alone in facing what life has to offer. Through these four stanzas, Brion K. Hanks calls for people to envision what they want in life and act toward it.

Bury Past Sorrows

“Don’t linger too long, pondering past sorrows.”

In the first stanza of Find Your Way, Mr. Hanks directs people not to focus on the negativities in life. He emphasizes that people should focus on the possibilities instead of looking for what they’ve already lost, their past sorrows and regrets. Life shouldn’t be lived with guilt. People should strive to live rowing toward the future, for their lives that are yet to happen.

It’s no use crying over spilled milk. While feeling sorry for mistakes and losses is healing, progress won’t happen if nobody moves forward. If people focus on what they’ve lost, it’ll be difficult to think of things they might gain in the future.

“Rather, focus on what comes in all tomorrows.”

If the past provided heartbreak, people could go through grief to process what they’re going through. They can take at the time needed to move on. But they shouldn’t linger for too long. Instead of weeping for what’s lost, people should redirect their energy toward making sense of the world, anticipating the future and what blessings may still come.

Be Fearless About Life to Grow

“For you to always evolve and quietly grow.”

In the poem’s second stanza, Mr. Hanks informs his readers of the secret to personal growth and development. In connection to the first, he shares that people must overcome their struggles and sorrows by fearlessly weaving through life. If past woes knock people down and they fail to stand right back up, they won’t be able to move forward in realizing their purpose. Instead, they must brave through fearlessly to find their way.

“Be fearless as you absolutely find your own way.”

Making sense of life means interpreting struggles as a redirection or a lesson. Hence, when people encounter them, they must be perceived as stepping stones – not meant for staying motionless, but to prop people toward another level of their lives.

You’re in Control

“The why is because it’s about you and your choice.”

People control their lives; nobody has autonomy over them but themselves. They’re in charge of making the choices that influence the progress of their growth and lives. People shouldn’t hesitate about their choices; instead, they must be confident about their decisions, taking liability and ownership regardless of what happens afterward.

Nobody owns anybody. People have the liberty to steer their lives in whatever direction they want. With this, they shouldn’t be hesitant or settle with what they can but strive for what they want.

Passion. Interests. Love. Confidence.

All of these should be considered when people make decisions. They shouldn’t settle for anything less for their lives. After all, once things are concluded, they will suffer from compromising and the negative consequences of their decisions.

The Past Provides Lessons

But lives should be lived forward.

While life’s lessons are primarily found in past experiences, the future is what’s most important. People shouldn’t be confused about where their lives should take them. Everything should take them forward, not living in the past.

“Past lessons are always for us, the living…

 … You will experience the wonder of living life today.”

People will only experience life if they live through the day. Making sense of life means learning from past experiences but being mindful of the present. People should ensure they don’t suffer from the same mistakes but do so without being too critical about life and still learning to enjoy it.

“Now visualize it and take action for just that. And get on with it, stat.”