Discovering the universe of poetry

Introduction:

I write poetry. But during the day, I'm a project manager with the provincial health services authority. So that's my day job. But I've been writing while I was in high school. So, that's 20 years give or take. It's what I love to do. I have a family, I have a partner, and two children. And I guess I'm, at an interesting point in my life, where there's been a lot of change. But there's been a lot of discovery as well. It's a challenging time, but it's also a fun time. So you know, as far as introductions go, I guess. That's my spiel.

What inspired you to start writing?

When I was a kid I was trying to get my hands on a lot of things. At that time I was trying to become a comic book artist. And then I wanted to be a fantasy author. And then I discovered poetry. I just started trying to write with my best friend at the time. I think it was an offshoot of literature classes, in which we got exposed to a lot of different kinds of firsts. I just started and I was encouraged by my friends and I just kept that. I found that it was an outlet for a lot of the teenage rage that I had at the time. It was also, you know, helpful for me to work out some of the trauma that I was processing. There's a kind of relief that I felt whenever I was able to write. And that just kept me coming back for more. And so I just kept at it, I guess. I tried a lot of things, I quit a lot of them, but I didn't quit writing poetry. For instance, I don't really write fantasy anymore. Maybe one day, you know, I can't really draw anymore for some reason, because I haven't practiced for 20 years. But I guess when you try a bunch of things, and you find one that sort of fits, you just stick to it.

Which writers inspire your work?

One of the first writers that inspired me was Wole Soyinka because he remains extremely popular and influential as a Nigerian winner of the Nobel Prize in literature. But specifically, the writer that led me where I am is Ben Okri. I read his book “The Famished Road” when I was still a teenager. The way he dealt with the fantastical, mixed with the everyday concerns, I think really still influences my writing, ‘till today. So if I had to pick two, I'd pick those two. But of course, I've had different eras of my writing life, that's how I got started. But more recently, my influences have been Yusef Komunyakaa and Kamau Brathwaite, two black poets of legendary status.

What is some advice for youth who want to pursue poetry?

I think the universe is when we think about the universe itself, the universe continues to expand and I think that the universe of poetry is like that. There is no real limits to what you could do with poetry. Especially if we think about the roots of modern poetry and in music, and if you think about the Bards of the past. There's so many ways that poetry can be deployed as page poetry, which is, just customarily just read in a book, spoken word, songwriting, you know, that there's so many things to explore. I'd encourage anyone who's exploring to Keep an open mind and try out a lot of things and see what works for you. Not to be discouraged by the early struggles, because those struggles never end. And let's not get distracted by notions of quality, like, oh, this poet is better than that poet or this poem is better than that poem, I think everyone has a unique voice. Each person can only strive to become the best poet that they have the potential to be. So your competition is yourself. It sounds cliche, but it's what it is. What is the best way you can say what you are uniquely qualified to say, and there are a lot of different ways to explore that. And so, you know, I wish I knew that. One more thing I'll say is write first, edit later. There's a tendency to want to write a perfect line, that just stops you in your tracks. Just write it down, however awful you think it is, and let it sit for a while. Then you can pick it up with fresh eyes and, improve it. One more thing I'll say is read widely, and listen to a lot of poetry. I guess that's one of the key ways of improving yourself, when you figure out what has been done. When you can get a pulse on what is being done currently, you can then sharpen your own approach to the page or to stage, if that's your medium. Improve. I mean, listening to hip hop, for instance, really humbles me, because when you hear the truly great rappers, then you realize that, wordplay, internal rhymes, delivery, and all that stuff that no one has a monopoly on it. And there's some that I've been honing on for generations, we just need to learn from other artists. The myth of the solitary genius is just that it's a myth. We have to be in community, either a mental community, or real community or preferably both. In which, you're having communion with the work of other people that have gone before that or are currently working and work with other people in your immediate space as well. And so that just enriches what you have to offer. I'd say beyond that, just stick to it and see what you have to say.

What was your first poem written about? What inspired you to write that poem?

My first poem would have been a fragment of something I wrote to, a girl in my class or something like that. I was a teenager basically. My first attempt was my father had all these records and then I'll pull up the sleeves and have all those loud Outreachy lyrics and so forth coming out, sort of plagiarize them. So I wouldn't call those poems per se. But that was my way. And then I started to get more original, I started to, you know, explore my own voice. But I would say my first attempts were attempts at love poetry. They were pretty awful. But I stuck to it. I don't remember exactly what it was called, or anything.