This is a new area of writing that I’ve developed since 2016.

Honestly, I used to hate poetry.

Growing up, I never understood it, and I always felt like I could never emotionally or mentally connect with it. I also thought that poetry was one of the most constrictive forms of writing, and because I was a budding writer, I felt threatened by it; I felt like I could never become a poet, therefore, it was my least favorite writing genre. I strongly held this opinion for most of my life.

Don’t get me wrong, I still loved poetry; my best friend Bria and a few other friends of mine could write some amazing poetry, and I supported them in that. I thought the form, although constrictive, was beautiful. I personally, however, still felt like I couldn’t write in such a way.

It wasn’t until after I graduated college, and endured a very exhausting and straining time spiritually, emotionally, and physically that I turned to poetry.

It began with me writing a small poem about some of the feelings I was having during that rough time period in my life. Then I bought Rupi Kaur’s milk and honey. I had never felt so connected with a book of poetry in my life until I finished reading her book. And after that, I was hooked. And I wanted and craved to read and learn more.

With my longing for poetry, I realized as I was reading through Psalms in the Bible how poetic they were. Later, I would read other poetry books such as Reyna Biddy’s I Love My Love and Amanda Lovelace’s The Princess Saves Herself in This One. And along with reading these books, my writing about events and emotions in my life turned more toward the poetry genre.

Then the Game Changed…

I never thought about making my spoken word into a huge thing. Sure, I wanted it published, but I never thought about actually speaking it out loud to anyone.

Until March 20, 2017, when I attended The Changes Tour with William Singe and Alex Aiono in Nashville, TN, and Silas Doss, the keyboardist for the tour, gave me the opportunity to speak one of my pieces on his Instagram live. After having to build up the confidence to do that, and seeing the positive feedback from people I’d never met, but who said they were touched by my words…the Lord really began to inspire me, and place on my heart what I really felt like I was made to do.

And so, here I am. Writing my heart out through spoken word / poetry, a genre I used to dislike for so many years of my life. And I am currently practicing speaking these words that the Lord has placed on my heart.

I definitely haven’t stopped all the other writing I’ve done, such as my blogging. But I’m really learning and growing in this new genre, and every time I write, I feel better about it, and more at home in it.

So, enough about how I became interested in it. Let’s get to my actual spoken word / poetry works, shall we?

I am currently working on a book of poetry that I hope to release sometime in 2020 (we shall see!), and I am also promoting the 2nd part of my Butterfly EP series through shows and videos (coming soon!), and recording the 3rd part of it as well! 🙌🏽

Audio versions of a couple of my works can be found on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, etc. under “Mishy”

Love ya, luvvies!

Mishy 🦋