Living Proof

Many times, I’ve found that it can be extremely difficult to write during certain periods of my life, especially when I was separated or going through a breakup, it was hard to write down all of my feelings and share it with the world. It was emotional, raw, angry, sad, vulnerable - all things that would make a writer “great”, or perhaps relatable. I remember I had written a post called, “Napkins”. Many people commented or emailed me about it, but one of my favorite writers had text me and said, “Wow, that was a really powerful post, Deb.” I deleted it because I didn’t want the person I spoke of to be worthy of my ‘ink’, or perhaps to have the feeling that she has some sort of faux power over me. The one thing I have that she didn’t was a medium to outlet my feelings and get advice and comments. Although it was such a long time after we parted, I would sometimes get overwhelmed by unanswered questions, lack of closure if you will. The reason why I’m writing this is because a wonderful...

There are very few authors that can hold my interest for an extended length of time. There are some bloggers who tend to drift off the main pathway of what they initially blogged for --and that’s okay, because I’m one of them. I must say, I’m most impressed with those authors, poets and bloggers who seem to continuously have content for a main theme of it all - their muse for writing - their “reason” to write, and on top of that, to correlate it to everyday life, whether people can relate to it or not. For myself, I prefer the type writing that can place me into a different world and place less focus on my own. One author that comes to mind is, Mark C. Durfee. I’ve been following his poetry for years and I recently just purchased two of his chapbooks: Stink and The Line Between . He’s a great poet and storywriter, all taken from his brilliant mind and what he experiences on a daily basis. He makes no apologies for what he says. He makes no excuses. It's raw. It's brilliant...

Poetry is personal. I even want to compare it to the bible because it has so many interpretations and possible meanings to it. Each person who reads one poem will have a different take on it after they have read it. I’ve always found myself drawn to the type of poetry that has a bit of play on words and a grip on the heartstrings. One of those types where you can say, “everyone can relate” type of poetry. I’ve been to poetry readings, finding myself tilting my head sideways like a Golden Retriever wondering if this person is trying a bit too hard to construe their words into a bundle of challenging metaphors and words hardly ever used in the English language. During a trip in Provincetown, MA, I found myself grimacing while it got more politically offensive as I was the only one sitting amongst extreme liberal lesbians standing on the right side of the room. I had to decline an invitation from my friend Lisa during that trip to go to another poetry reading. I had told her to meet...