One of the most challenging stages in psychotherapy, from a transactional analysis (TA) perspective, is the process of deconfusion — the disentangling of the Child’s emotional experience. At this stage, the therapist often encounters the fact that the client’s feelings do not yet have words. Early sensations and emotions may appear as images, bodily experiences, or fragments that do not yet form a coherent narrative. In such moments, therapy becomes a kind of bridge between experience and meaning.

In these circumstances, it is especially important that the forms of work offered by the therapist remain simple and accessible. As we are addressing the Child ego state, excessive complexity or overly detailed instructions may hinder rather than facilitate access to experience. At the same time, the client needs some form of support — a gentle structure that helps them stay in the process and maintain contact with themselves. For this reason, approaches that combine a clear framework with inner freedom become particularly valuable. Poetic writing is one such approach: it offers simplicity alongside depth, allowing language to emerge gradually for what is only just beginning to be felt.

Poetry as a therapeutic space

In my practice, I gradually began to use poetic writing as a way of working with clients’ emotional experience. I have been writing poetry for many years, and among my clients there are those for whom poetry is already a natural way of coping with feelings and making sense of their experience. Over time, I noticed that I could draw on this experience — both my own and that of my clients — and gently integrate poetic writing into the therapeutic process. It became clear to me that even short poetic texts can transform the quality of contact — with oneself, with the therapist, and with what is unfolding in the session.

When a client begins to write a poem, a particular kind of silence often emerges in the space. This is not emptiness, but rather a dense, alive presence in which it becomes possible to hear what has previously remained unexpressed. In relational TA, such silence can be understood as part of holding — one of the fundamental therapeutic interventions, described as an empathic transaction (Hargaden & Sills, 2002). The therapist offers a form of presence in which emotional experience can emerge without pressure and without the need to be immediately understood or explained. Within this co-created field, pre-symbolic and unconscious material can begin to surface, gradually taking shape in images, words, and metaphors.

The use of poetry in psychotherapy is not a new practice. Poetry therapy and bibliotherapy have long been described as ways of working with emotional experience and meaning-making (Hynes & Hynes-Berry, 1986; Mazza, 2016). Poetry can be used both for the expression of feelings and for their symbolization and reflection, allowing form to be given to experiences that are difficult to articulate in direct speech. In addition, poetic language may facilitate a deeper contact with personal experience and support the process of exploring one’s identity. In this sense, poetry can be understood as part of the broader field of expressive methods in psychotherapy (Mazza & Hayton, 2013).

A poetic perspective in TA

From a TA perspective, this process can be understood as an interaction between ego states. Emotional experience, associated with the Child ego state, finds expression through poetic language, while the Adult ego state can give this experience form and meaning. In this article, I propose to consider the use of poetry through a poetic perspective in TA — as a particular way of approaching emotional experience and making sense of it within the therapeutic process.

The idea of the so-called “Poetic Adult” builds on earlier developments in TA (Phelan & Phelan, 1978). The Poetic Adult can be understood as an aspect of the Adult ego state that is capable of remaining in contact with emotional experience while simultaneously giving it form through language, metaphor, and imagery, thus supporting processes of meaning-making and integration. In the context of poetic writing, this may be expressed as the simultaneous activation of different ego states and the strengthening of the integrating function of the Adult (Tudor, 2003). Such a perspective offers a way of re-engaging with familiar TA concepts, enriching them with emotional depth and a more nuanced, experiential quality, while also expanding possibilities for contact with the client’s inner world.

In my work, I sometimes invite clients to use a simple poetic form known as the cinquain, originally developed by Adelaide Crapsey (Crapsey, 1915). This five-line structure provides a gentle framework without overwhelming the client with complex instructions. The invitation to write a poem is offered in an open and supportive way, allowing the client to regulate their own level of engagement and depth of contact with their experience. In TA terms, this way of working can be understood as a combination of permission and protection — fundamental therapeutic interventions that create the conditions for the safe exploration of experience (Clarkson, 1992; Crossman, 1966). Within this space, the client may allow themselves to take a risk — to move closer to their feelings, to find words for them, and to gain a new experience. It is here that the Child ego state can begin to find a voice and be heard.

In working with such poetic texts, it is important to refrain from interpretation and to maintain respect for the client’s metaphor. In TA, this stance has deep theoretical foundations. Poda (2010), drawing on the ideas of Nobel laureate Elias Canetti, articulates the ethical basis of working with the Child as a refusal to “step over another’s words.” In a therapeutic context, this means not rushing to explain, not distorting, and not appropriating the meaning of the client’s experience.

This perspective is also reflected in the work of Erskine and Trautmann (1996), who emphasize the importance of empathic inquiry, and in Clarkson’s (1992) integrative approach, which highlights the value of supportive therapeutic presence. Such an approach requires the therapist’s capacity to be with the client in a way that allows their inner world to unfold and be heard. In this process, questions addressed to the client become a way of supporting exploration without disrupting the integrity of their experience.

Listening to the Child’s voice

As mentioned above, in my work I sometimes invite clients to use a simple poetic form — the cinquain. This is a short five-line poem that provides a minimal structure while still allowing space for free expression. Typically, the first line consists of a single word indicating the theme, followed by descriptive words, actions, a short phrase, and a final word or image. This form can serve as a gentle framework without limiting spontaneity.

If you wish, you may try this form yourself — either in your own practice or in your work with clients — and observe how it resonates and what kinds of processes it begins to support.

Below, I will share several short poems written using this structure. As you read them, I invite you not to rush into explanation and, while refraining from interpretation, to reflect on the image of the Child that may begin to emerge in these lines. How does this voice sound? What is it trying to communicate? And what changes when this voice is given a place in words?

I also invite you to notice how the form of the poem may change, even when the underlying structure remains the same. Some texts closely follow the proposed format, while others expand or move beyond it. This, too, can become material for reflection: what might such precision express, and what might be revealed in moving beyond the structure?

Poem 1

To sense the scent
Subtle, alluring
To follow, carried without doubt
To surrender to the instinct within the wings of a butterfly
A winged force, a compass of scent

Reflections

What kind of Child do you encounter in these lines?
What is present here — impulse, attraction, trust?
And what response arises in you in relation to this voice?

Poem 2

I walk in small steps.
I move quietly, like a mouse.
My heart is beating in my chest.
And in my head: go, go…
Am I afraid? Very.
What if it doesn’t work out, what if there is danger around the corner?
I stop. I freeze. I breathe in.
And then — the next step.

Reflections

How does this Child sound?
What do you notice — fear, caution, movement forward?
What helps this movement to continue despite the anxiety?

Poem 3

Stop.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Be yourself.

Silent, talkative,
Small, big…

Simply — be.
Simply — breathe.
Listen to inner voice.

Don’t leave now.

Try to stay
Close to others,
While remaining yourself.

So simple:
Wherever you are, and whoever you are with —
Be yourself.

Reflections

What do you notice in this text in relation to the original structure?
How does the inner dialogue between the Child and the Adult sound here?
What response do these lines evoke in you?

A relational path toward autonomy

At times, this process leads to a different quality of encounter — with oneself, with one’s inner Child, and with a deeper experience of close contact. In group work, I notice that in these shared moments of silence, when participants are writing their texts, I, too, begin to write. One of these poems is shared below.

These poems emerge at the intersection of personal experience and what is unfolding in the group, as a reflection of the shared process. In relational TA, it is emphasized that the therapist is inevitably involved in the therapeutic field and is transformed within it alongside the client (Hargaden & Sills, 2002). In this sense, poetic expression becomes not only a way of working for the client, but also part of the co-created space.

To gather ripe wild strawberries in my hands.
Juicy, bright. Hands full.
To see. To pick. To keep.
To carry these handfuls to you, little one, with care.

Look, my little Girl, this is all for you.

Taste it.
Breathe. Receive.
Cry with joy.
Warm yourself in closeness.

Look how much life there is in your hands.

I, the Adult, will be there —

To look at you with a loving gaze.

To protect you, little one.
To hold you, just as you are.
To keep you alive in my living heart.

The poetic perspective in TA presented in this article can be understood as an invitation to exploration. Poetry within the therapeutic process opens a pathway to emotional experience, its symbolization and integration, and may take different forms in individual and group work, as well as across languages and cultural contexts. Within this process, the capacity for spontaneity may be strengthened, awareness may deepen through the making of meaning, and the experience of closeness may become more accessible — qualities that in TA are considered markers of autonomy (Berne, 1964).

I invite colleagues to explore this approach in their own practice, to observe the responses that emerge, and to share their experience. It may be that through such shared inquiry, this perspective can continue to develop and find its place within the field of TA.