Introduction

This is an article that I have been wanting to write for a very long time now. The nature of poets is something that has baffled my mind, paticularly with the face that my yearly reading goal on goodreads has been to read more poetry books. Whilst reading them a whole new world opened up to me. There were poets in every society and they were very peculiar and unique personalities that produced words that blow your heart away. Despite their differences, it always felt like they were very similar to me. Sometimes their messages were similar or their origin story towards their journey was similar. Remarkably, every time I ask a poet why they write, its always the same response. Because they need to.

The authenticity in poets is what makes them stand out. When I was younger and not living authentically, I shunned poetry without any paticular reason. Now I feel like that was because my younger self couldn’t handle the raw authenticity of the poets. Many others remain like that forever. Inayat Khan, in his poetry book ‘The Hand of Poetry’ discusses how many poets have a moment in their lives when they ‘break open’ and this incident could be a heart-break from a lover or a tradegy happening.

The Need for Tradegy

In my personal life, the difficulty I faced since I was 18 finally forced me to have my ‘break open’ moment at 21 when I suddenly started writing poetry. I used to question why God would put me through such struggle and once I started writing poetry everything made perfect sense. It was as if he was placing me in the right place. Though I would never want to return to those years, I understand their value despite the pain it brings me to think about it. The strength, wisdom and gratitude I developed as a result combined with my poetry now makes me feel unstoppable. Tradegy hurts, there’s no nice way about it and if the Almighty willed, he could have left us with no benefit from the tradegy since life is a test but like an untasty medicine, it has countless benefits. This is from the mercy of the Almighty.

Rumi has his tradegy when Shamz of Tabriz (he peer, mirror and teacher) left and was presumed dead. In a unique book called ‘Rumi’s unseen poems’ you feel the brutal pain. In the poem ‘I saw my beauty in your beauty’ he writes:

“My heart is a woman giving birth at any moment.

She is pregnant with the light of your glory.

Nine months pregnant, when can she rest?

She has no idea of the pain and suffering.

Love, if my blood boils for anyone but you,

Take away my joy and shed my blood freely.

Out of love, head to toe, I turned into living words,

Crying to the heavens, pleading for the news of you.”

Shamz of Tabriz died of course and Rumi was never able to see him again. As brutal as it sounds, because of this brutal tradegy we were able to get some of the most amazing poems humanity has ever seen. Jalal ad Din Muhammad Rumi wins best seller every year in the US despite being a Sunni Turkic-Persian scholar from Afghanistan who lived in the time when Genghis Khan was sacking the whole world, including Rumi’s home town as well as Rumi’s first poetic inspiration, Attar.

Another great example is Al-Mutanabbi. Travelling to Aleppo he came across the man he was looking for his entire life. Al-Mutanabbi always knew he was a great poet but he dreamed of composing eulogies for the archetypal ‘ Military Hero’ but he couldn’t quite find anyone who matched this fantasy of his and thereby lived most of his life in a state of feeling disconnected. Eventually he came across Sayf ad Dawla, a typical military hero. They had a great relationship but eventually they fell out and Al-Mutnabbi left. He composed great poetry lamenting over his lost friendship as well as his own anguish at himself for feeling sad over a friendship that he shouldn’t care about any longer.

Al-Mutanabbi’s poetry is raw. We have all lost a friend somewhere along the line but Al-Mutanabbi was brave enough to compose poetry about how he felt. In my own poetry, I tried to copy his style in the way he would contradict himself. The poets all went through a tradegy in their lives but it led them to composing some of the greatest poetry in human history so it did have a positive side in the end.

Tradegy is needed and in my latest poem, ‘I’m a wandering poet’ (which you can find on instagram) I discuss how my emotions are different seasons and the need to view them all as natural ‘changing of the weather’ rather than something negative. I would view sadness and confusion as negative but now I don’t want to do that anymore. I’m not going to pretend as if this is wisdom that I cam up with. I heard this way of viewing emotion in a discussion video on YouTube about Rumi by Dr Safi and it has since deeply inspired me.

My poem ~ ‘I’m a Wandering Poet’ – A poem by Muaad Sucule

“Under the moonlight,

I let the storm of my emotions rage,

Under the moolight,

I taste the sweetness of sadness,

Under the moonlight,

I walk through the mist of confusion,

Under the moonlight,

I see my emotions as different visitors,

Opening the door of my heart,

I welcome them in;

Hosting them all equally,

In my beautiful home.

I’m a wandering poet,

Wandering alone under the moonlight,

Travelling through the seasons of my emotions,

Alone and far out of sight.”

– Muaad Sucule

Why do different poets write?

Every time I meet a poet, I ask them “why do you write?”. I only do that to see if I could find a unique answer since nearly all answers are the same. This is a good thing in my opinion because it confirms my view of poets. My recent features on my instagram page, Ladan, Ayesha K and Kelly have all told me about the necessary reason for them to write. How they have a natural urge to

The Role of Poets in Society

Poets have always had a prominent role in every society. I read the poem of an Aztec King and just like the Somalis, the poets were instrumental in that society. Furthermore, whenever I think of the role of a poet in society, I remember Tu Fu the legendary chinese poet. His poetry was so raw that it perfectly captured exactly what he felt was happening. For the historian then, poets must be an amazing source of historical information. I personally believe that poets inform humans of what is actually going on. Beyond political opinions and theological debates, the poet gives the raw truth about human nature as well as society and this is what makes the poet essential to society.

Conclusion

Overall, I believe that poets al have a similar nature. A gentle nature that is almost connected to the ‘thread’ of the life itself. All the poets I’ve met have said they feel a heavy feeling that forces them to write and only after writing do they feel better. This is how I feel personally as well. This leads them to compose poetry which creates art that tells an authentic truth about reality itself. A truth which can’t be refuted at all.