Finding my smile……
Having written poetry all my life for my own pleasure and as a way of expressing my feelings and emotions, seeing my own words in print when I opened my first box of hard copies of my book last week was incredibly moving.
I have been working with local author, Ruth Leigh, on honing my work into the best it could possibly be. One day, sitting on the floor of her ‘Palace of Creativity’ sorting my work into different sections for the book, she stopped me and challenged me – as she is prone to do! She asked me why I was publishing the work. I could tell that my answer of ‘You told me I had to,’ wasn’t what she was after! So, she dug deeper, making me think more deeply about the essence of my work and what impact I thought it could have. Ever since I first showed Ruth my writing she has maintained that it should be out there to help others but I had never believed it – until recently. At a poetry open mic night a couple of months ago I stood up and read two of my poems. During the interval a complete stranger came up to me. He thanked me for my words and said that they had indeed affected him very deeply and that they had helped him see his own situation much more clearly. To say I was shocked was an understatement – but what this did was make me start to believe that perhaps Ruth was right – perhaps there was something in my words that might help others. It made me go back and re-write the introduction to my book. It now reads as follows: ‘I hope you enjoy these poems and find some comfort in knowing that these are shared experiences, and that no matter how tough things are at the time, there is always hope for a better, brighter future’.
Is this the reason for my work? Who knows? I hope that it can reach some people in need and that they can find some solace in the pages of my book and, like that gentleman at the open mic night said, it may make people realise that they are not alone in difficult circumstances. That there is power in shared experiences and being able to see things more clearly, knowing that others are going through the same, or similar to them. There is power in not feeling alone.
And so, it is incredibly exciting, that my book launch is this coming Sunday. So many people have told me that they are coming that I’m sure the local hostelry, where the event is being held, will be creaking at the seams. But this event is not about me and my book – it is my opportunity to say a huge thank you to my family and friends for sharing the good times and being there for me in the challenging times. Each and every one of them has led me to be the person I am today. Each and every one of them has contributed to my life far more than I think they realise. We have laughed together and cried together. We have danced in the rain (literally and metaphorically) – and occasionally on the tables! In the good times and in the bad they have believed in me, picked me up, dusted me down, given me hope and helped me find my smile again. This is my time to say THANK YOU!