Poetry.

Passion is an interesting concept. It can be interpreted and portrayed in so many different ways, and that’s what makes it beautiful and special. It’s taken me a long time to realize what my passion was and the best phrase that describes my passion is human connection. I’ve explored aspects of human connection in a few different professional capacities, and over the years, I’ve learnt that my greatest trait is relation to my passion is my empathy. That being said, realizing the capacity of my empathy also has made me realize that professions such as Social Work and Psychology would burn me out quickly and eventually dim my passion. I choose to portray my passion for connection in the form of poetry. In a perfect world, I would be a published poet, with my work reaching the hearts and changing the lives of people who are struggling with the same emotions.

Poetry is something that I didn’t truly start to love until a few years ago. I stumbled across a video performance of Sabrina Benaim’s ‘The loneliest sweet potato’ and my whole world stopped. Maybe that sounds a bit dramatic, but for the first time maybe ever, I felt like I had found a piece of writing that spoke to me and made me feel comforted. It was like receiving a warm hug and a therapy session, just by hearing a few words. I have since been so lucky to see that poem performed in person, and the tears that were shed that night were therapeutic. That’s what I would hope to do by publishing my poetry, to make someone else in this crazy, harsh world feel less alone. To me, the truest form of flattery is when someone reads a piece of my writing and is able to feel the emotion that I was trying to convey. I’m young, but I have a voice-full of anxiety and self doubt- and a story to share. The thought of connecting with some lost soul out in the world brings me the most joy and fulfillment that I could imagine. In my eyes, all my struggle and pain would be worth it, if it meant helping someone else crawl out from the darkness.

I find poetry is such a beautiful release of words and emotions. The way that my poetry idols can emulate such a specific sentiment with a simple metaphor is something that I will always by inspired by and try to attain in my writing. Many of my favorite pieces of poetry are meant to be performed and spoken, which I believe adds a whole new layer to the depth of the words. Something that I would like to put focus on, in the future is performance poetry, and learning how to use my voice to add another layer to the poems I write. My writing style is already bordering on performance-style, the thing that I need to conquer is myself and my fear of vulnerability. My poetry is my soul, laid out on a piece of paper, and somehow, performing those pieces connect them more to me. I am still learning to not let my fear of personal vulnerability overpower my desire for a connection. Gaining an audience who supports my passion and poetry would help me gain confidence in my talent and in the knowledge that I am making a difference in lives. Poetry is something that comforts me in times of hardship, is a medium to transfer my joy into, and is such a great way to process emotions. To be able to write and share poetry as an occupation would be a dream come true.