I’ve been thinking about how to release emotion through words in a controlled and alive way, rather than in a way that overwhelms me and sabotages my writing. I’ve been thinking about a caged tiger. My words can sometimes feel like a captive animal, struggling to break free from its confinement. But what would happen if I unlocked a tiger’s cage, threw open the gate, and told him jubilantly, “You’re free, at last!”?
Most likely, he would do one of two things. Either he would cower at the back of his cage, afraid to come out, or, in his terror, he would attack and maul me. He wouldn’t react this way simply because he’s a wild animal; he would react this way because he’s a wild animal placed in an unfamiliar and frightening situation.
When I bring this metaphor home to my own life as a writer, the meaning becomes clear.
Neither words cowering at the back of the cage (what I often label as writer’s block), nor the destruction of my psyche through overwhelming emotion, is the outcome I’m seeking.
What I need instead is to build a relationship with that wild animal — with the wildness inside myself. If I can do this, I can facilitate a slow, contained release of emotion, allowing my words to carry passion and power. This feels far safer and far more productive than throwing open the gate on my fears and vulnerabilities and hoping that doing so will somehow make me more creative.
After all, what I want is to write words that are truly wild — not words I call “wild” but that are, in fact, something quite different: words that are simply uncontained, or chaotic.