I was inspired to attempt some free verse poetry the other night after watching the movie Leaves of Grass, named after the great Walt Whitman work of the same name.

In the movie, Keri Russel quotes a passage from the book to Edward Norton:

You have not known what you are—you have slumbered upon yourself all your life,
Your eye-lids have been as much as closed most of the time,
What you have done returns already in mockeries,
…
The mockeries are not you,
Underneath them, and within them, I see you lurk,

Keri: He wrote without rhyme or meter—free verse—just whatever he felt inside, coming out in its own intricate rhythm. Pure, unashamed passion, without definable restriction.
Norton: I’m sorry, I have a few issues with that.
Keri: Why?
Norton: Because some have dared to suggest that even poetry has rules.
Keri: Or you make your own.
Norton: Right there, that’s the part I never bought into.
Keri: Because…?
Norton: Because if everybody runs around making their own rules, how can you find what’s true? There’s nothing. There’s nothing to rely on.
…
Keri: Maybe what’s true is in front of us, and we’re moving toward it without even knowing it’s there. Once you think you’ve got it all solved, what’s left?

Three questions to ask yourself about how you see your life:

1. What rules have you defined about how your life should be?
2. What new and potentially life changing experiences might emerge if you let them slide from time to time?
3. What’s stopping you from finding out?