Poetry is ME.

Interview Questions:

What does poetry do for you? What does it mean to you? What made you start poetry? Who are you now because of your life in poetry?

Interview Answers:

Poetry is the source of my creative outlet and stresses and joys and sadness and guilt and desires. Poetry is Me. It is parts of me that many don’t see or would never see. It is confession. It is wisdom. It is release. It is in the way I speak and think. God has used poetry to talk through me, to me, and for me to talk to myself. It has been a healing process for my heart at times and clearing of my mind at others. It has helped me to help others to heal and to see them in me.

I began poetry as a pre-teen probably for a class writing assignment. I remember loving to read poetry when I would come across them in my mother’s book collection. I can remember reading poetry that was above me that I could not yet understand but yet I could feel. I was always at a high reading level for my age and so I read poetry the same way. I do remember the whimsical collections of Shel Silverstein when I was younger and the graphic writings of Edgar Allen Poe that came alive in middle school. However, poetry was and is not the only teacher of poetry. I had my first poem chosen for a middle school anthology in the 7^th grade and it gave me so much confidence in my writing. However, the love had already developed. Yet, it was not until 2010 that I discovered spoken word poetry right in the city of Detroit.

Poetry allowed me to express life and death, which I truly learned to understand how much power, is in my tongue. Poetry became my confessional and my best friend. I told poetry some things first before I told anyone else. Through poetry and the allowing the love of God to engulf me I became free. I am free now in my hair style choices and my dress. I teach my child to express himself creatively but with respect. I think all of those above things became even more so as a result of me learning to be real through poetry. I began to “erase lines” that used to exist between me and others and began building bridges. I no longer had a line to “walk on” trying to be a people pleaser. I no longer was scared to cross “the line” that people drew with their expectations. Through God using poetry to help me grow and bloom, I discovered me. I am now ME.

Since I discovered me, I now am able to help others do the same. I encourage others to also be free. I continue to share of myself often transparently so others can break the shackles of their own silence. We all should see each other in each other and know we are not alone and that there are many common themes that connect us. I see the beauty and positivity in so many things and want to express it so others can get a glimpse of what I see. Through my poetry stage I give others the freedom to be themselves and who God created them to be without judgment. Poetry will always be a part of me, the part of me I give to others. Poetry....is my muse.

God's love & peace to you ~Beautiful Thought
www.mybeautifulthoughts.net