OctPoWriMo 2022: Day 22 - Surrender Self Limitations

What limitations do you impose upon yourself? How do you break free of these? And how do you know if you have?

Self-confidence is a huge factor in enabling anyone to break free of the chains that bind them. I think I felt far more limited in my early teens, when I was still trying to figure out who I was, and as a result, probably fulfilled far less of my potential than I should have. Probably by the age of 15 or so, though, I realised that people will leave. And yes, it is sad. But that you cannot let these moments in life break you for months or even years. And that people will always find a way to criticise you no matter what you do - so you may as well do what you want, or what you think is right. And both of these epiphanies were highly liberating. I did more. I laughed more. I loved more. And I lived more as a result. 

Even as an adult, setting long-term goals - and writing them down - is enormously liberating in terms of surrendering any limitations you might be imposing on yourself. Accept that life will get in the way sometimes - and that short-term projects like OctPoWriMo aside (!), setting goals over six months or a year allows more wiggle rooms for goals to be achieved and limitations to be smashed through.

So you might want to format your poem accordingly, to look like a list of resolutions or goals - or you may want to try the catena rondo form, courtesy of Robin Skelton (The Shapes of Our Singing, 2002), who is credited with inventing the form. Catena means 'chain', and rondo means 'circle' - which might appear to run counter to the notion of breaking free from those metaphorical chains of self-limitation. But hear me out.

The form itself symbolises the chains that bind us thanks to its repetitive rhyme scheme of AbbA per quatrain. The first line of each quatrain is also the final line of the quatrain. The second line of each quatrain is the first line of the next quatrain. And the final quatrain should repeat the first, word for word.

However, there are also aspects of the form that symbolise breaking free of these recurring vicious circles which trap our thinking. You can have however many quatrains you want. And there are no rules for metre, line length, or subject matter. So exercise your freedom here - or just do a free write if you prefer the whole poem, structurally speaking, to be a metaphor for surrendering these self-limitations. Maybe you want to invert an existing form or just try something completely different. The rondeau is a similar form - a famous example being Dunbar's "We Wear The Mask", reproduced below:

Word prompts:

Free

Live

Untangle

Cast off

Breathe

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions: you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you and if this is your first year or if you have been with us from the beginning.

Happy writing!

Bianca