Tag: Poets

Introducing Poet Lora K. Lucente

Through the Eyes of a Poet series #3

Through the Eyes of a Poet series by Christina M. Ward
Featured Poet: Lora K Lucente

Objective: To encourage people to broaden their reading interests through poetry, support the poetry community, and introduce you to poets and their personal stories.

For updates on this series: Join this Author Newsletter.

Lora K. Lucente, poet

Lora K. Lucente fell in love with poetry through a musical path. Her love for music took her to college, introduced her to writing, and birthed in her a love for poetry. Truly gifted lyricists are poets. I understand Lora’s path very well as the music of the Counting Crows is instrumental in developing my love for poetry.

Lora shared with me about her musical path to poetry:

How long have you been writing?:

I started writing poetry in middle school, which was over 20 years ago. For me, it began as music. I’ve always been drawn to music that has deep and engaging lyrics. Some of the biggest inspirations for me at that time were Simon & Garfunkel, John Denver, Queen, Tori Amos, and the Beatles. Additionally, I grew up during the age of 90’s alternative music which has a ton of incredible lyricists. It wasn’t long that I began paying more attention in English class while being encouraged by my middle school English teacher to read and write poetry.

What is your educational background regarding writing?:

While I do not have a degree in writing, I’ve spent a great portion of my time in college writing educational/research and corporate/training papers. I’ve also written dozens of training guides throughout my career experiences. More recently, I have taken a copywriting course and began a copywriting business. However, when I began my college education, I was a music major (voice) which heavily relied upon the context of lyrics – though not writing the words, I spent a lot of time analyzing song lyrics.

My poetry is published on Medium (aside from my own website) in Scribe, House of Haiku, Soul & Sea, Imperfect Words, Get Inside, and Unlearning and Learning publications.

Describe the vision / style / content / etc of your poetry?:

My poetry tends to revolve around themes of healing, nature, mysticism and emotions. I had a tough childhood, with middle school being a really hard time for me – poetry was always there to help me and hold me, whether I was reading or writing it. Even the terrible poems I had written still had a part in my development, expression, understanding my being, and overcoming obstacles.

My current vision with my website, Ambient Writing, is to use my poetry as a way to connect with others, promoting healing, confidence, and self-care. There are a lot of hurting people in the world, and I’d like to think my purpose in writing poetry is to help others. I hope I do so they know they’re not alone.

Lora’s mission as a poet speaks to my heart. I am thankful to Lora for agreeing to interview with me and share with us a little bit about her work, her writing process, and her thoughts on the poetry genre. So without further adieu…

Poet Interview

Tell me about your writing process with regards to writing poetry, specifically.

My process usually starts out with an emotional or visual idea and inspiration – movement stirring inside and I have to write it down. I try to stick to a writing schedule, but sometimes the muse isn’t awake when I need her to be. Generally, once the idea stirs, I pick up my good old-fashioned journal and pen, and I just write! I’ve found the musculoskeletal kinetic process of writing in a journal helps to encourage natural creative flow.

Typically, I just free-write and get it all out on the paper – even the ugliness. I don’t usually get stuck on a word or line, sometimes it happens, but for the most part I just freely write it all down. After which, I will read over it and do a first edit for any grammar. Then I close the journal and walk away – I like to let the poem simmer! I will re-visit that same day or the next day, so that when I re-read the poem, it’s more fresh, like I’m reading it as a reader not the author.

At this point, I will convert the handwritten pages and type the poem in a Google doc. This is great for editing as well as being able to save it to the drive. Then I read it over again. After reading through, I will go over line by line, stanza by stanza, and make any adjustments. Some questions I will ask myself are: “Does this convey a message/point, or is it all over the place?”; “Does this flow, or is it too wordy?”; “Are there any redundancies?”; “Does this pull emotion or is it flat?” With these questions, I find I can better revise and shape the poem.

Tell me about one of your poems that is very special to you, and why.

My husband and I have had struggles with fertility, including miscarriage. It’s something I’m still working through, personally. I had written a poem “The Cloak of Nurture” late one night, after having some anxiety and a heavy crying session. A lot was going on at the time, and I was feeling very alone with not being a mother – not being understood in my losses.

After reading some posts on Facebook – family and friends with their adorable, smart, clever, talented children – I started wondering what my baby would have been like. They would have just turned 3 at that time, so I started thinking about all the fun, crazy, cute, and amazing things 3 years do and say. Then I cried some more! Then, I started writing. My husband was snoring away, not knowing anything that was going on – it’s ok though, because I need alone-time and privacy when writing poetry.

While this poem means a lot to me personally, my hope is that it at least touches one other person who has gone through or is going through infertility/miscarriage/child loss and maybe bring them comfort that they’re not actually alone.

Living With Miscarriage and Infertility

I thought of you that day,
The moment the red pierced the vale of life.
I once had dreams for you,
You once held a hope within me.

I’ve wondered where you’ve gone,
How can I know you but not see your eyes?
How was I so close yet so far away,
From holding your purpose in my arms?

Finish reading this poem:

Living With Miscarriage and Infertility

What would you say to people who may not consider poetry to be “their thing?” 

There are a couple of points I would make – the major one being that many people may not realize that poets still exist in the 21st Century! In my experience, most people who do not care for poetry often have been turned off by it during school – while they were forced to read the classics, the language may have not connected with them. Maybe they think all poetry is just a bunch of “dead poets” who use words like “thou”, “shall” and “comest”, and they just don’t like the style? 

Another major point I would bring is how poetry is in music – much of music has poetic lyrics, from opera to folk to rock to rap. I would challenge them to view their listening habits and see what poems are within their favorite songs.

Lastly, I would explain how there are so many different styles to writing poetry – maybe they read something on social media or even Medium, and just didn’t like it. Not liking one poem or a particular style of a writer does not mean that all poetry is lost. I would encourage them to keep reading and they will find a style and/or poet(s) who intrigues and inspires them. Poetry is an art, just like music and painting – there are so many genres and styles, poets, and creative opportunities with poetry!

One last question, do you define your poetry or does your poetry define you? Why?

I believe, for the most part, my poetry defines me. When I set out to write a poem, I’m overwhelmingly driven by my emotion and the desire to express those emotions and thoughts into visual words. I’m not a great painter/drawer, but with poetry, I can cover a canvas with words and dream up a scene. Most of the time, I go back to the poem after it has been finished to analyze what is meant, the story that came out. Surely, I start with an idea, but I’m never tactical and technical with my approach. This may be something I need to grow in, though, but I my poetry comes out in waves of emotion, not so much like an outline or plan. This is why I feel my poetry defines me.

Thank you for reading this edition of Through the Poet’s Eyes with Lora K. Lucente. I hope you will follow this poet on her journey of poetry; the music of her life. Additionally, here is one of Lora’s poems that I found incredibly beautiful:

Sparkles and Lace

Eyes waking, frosty dreams dancing alive,

Silence speaking loudest, breathing in blue sighs.

Wishes from youth, white lace, sparkling and fair,

Covering old hopes, heart pulling despair.

I hear a voice; singing, haunting–it’s mine,

Steps taken softly, gently, undefined.

Continue reading this poem at: Sparkles and Lace

Thank you Lora for sharing a bit of your poetic journey with us. I appreciate your ability to put your life to the music of poetry. Your personal message, inquisitive descriptions, and heartfelt depth are a gift to readers who experience your work. Keep writing!

If you would like to follow Lora’s journey, read her work, and become a fan, you can find her on the following platforms:

Lora’s website, Ambient Writing
Follow Lora on Medium
Follow Lora on Instagram
Subscribe to Lora’s email list

Thank you for reading about this featured poet. I invite you to include poetry in your reading and give this genre a chance to enrich your life. I will be featuring poets on my blog (Author Website), in my newsletter (Author Newsletter), and on my Medium platform (Fiddleheads & Floss Poetry). I welcome you to read about these poets, support them, and perhaps find a poet that brings something very meaningful to your life.

Poetically yours,

Christina Ward, poet, author, and blogger

Become a fan
Purchase ::organic:: (my first poetry collection!!)

Introducing Poet Sam H. Arnold

Through the Eyes of a Poet series #2

Changing people’s lives through teaching, mentorship, caring, and yes through POETRY!

Sam H. Arnold, poet, writer, Author of The Detective Two

Sam H. Arnold has made a lifetime of caring for others through her love of teaching and mentoring. Sam grew up in a small seaside village in the South of England called Dymchurch. She pursued her education in teaching and now resides 20 minutes up the road from where she was born, in the town of Ashford, Kent.

Sam works with students of all ages and with a variety challenges that make it difficult to access mainstream schooling. Sam’s work did not initially lead her in the direction of writing, but I’d argue that the path of empathy that her life has taken is a great catalyst for her writing.

Although Sam’s writing work just started growing in a more professional direction the last few years, I asked her if she could remember when she first began thinking of writing:

I recently found a short story I wrote for my grandad when I was five years old, so I guess I have always written.  –Sam H Arnold

I think my response to that is that oftentimes writers, especially poets, may not pay all that much attention to the inner voice that leads us to write. But when we do–it is truly magical.

I invited Sam to join me in an interview about her work, about what inspires her, and about poetry. Please enjoy this brief interview with poet and teacher Sam H. Arnold:

Tell me about the kinds of poetry that you enjoy writing.

I started writing poetry only a year ago.  I started with freestyle poetry, I found it was an excellent way to express my feelings.  Since then I have started experimenting with different forms of poetry. My favourite at the moment is Haiku.

Tell me about your writing process with regards to writing poetry, specifically.

My poetry is far more personal than much of my other work.  For example, I have written about my partners depression and my grandma’s dementia.  I have an idea or a line that comes to me. From there I build a poem around it. It can sometimes take me several weeks to come up with a complete poem.  Only when it is complete do I look at form and try to alter parts to make it flow better.

Tell me about one of your poems that is very special to you, and why.

For many years I have been trying to come to terms with the fact that my grandma has dementia.  None of the woman I know and love is left. She was also my hero and inspiration as she was a pioneer before her time.  Incidentally, the article I wrote about her was one that received the editors choice. During her birthday when I was going through a particularly hard time, a single line came to me.  It was the first line of one of my favourite poems.  You can find it here: The Dementia of a Soul

The Dementia of a Soul, by Sam H. Arnold

Her soul I know left years ago
the shell remains even though
I cry tears of anger and of woe,
Fly free my wise old owl and go.

A woman so brave and smart
Who helped to stop the UK from falling apart,
Hitler tried to occupy our shore,
Gran stood firm and manned the store.

Amazing woman first of her kind
Area manager when women stayed behind
My hero, I wanted to make her proud,
Her praise a goal of magic sound.

A daughter raised who I call mum
An ear she leant when I was glum
The books we shared through many years,
A love so strong it held no fears.

God I hope you hear my call,
I know my Gran has given all,
I know I mourned her years ago,
Now take her up to her new home.

If you had a piece of advice for other poets, what would that be?

Write what you feel and like, not what structure and form tells you to.

What would you say to people who may not consider poetry to be “their thing?”

For many years I didn’t understand poetry or think it was for me.  I could be heard many times saying ‘I just don’t understand how to write poetry.’ Then my partner said to me that poetry was about writing what you want in whatever form you want.  I gave it a try and have loved it ever since.  

So my advice would be try it only then will you know how much you love it. 

One last question, do you define your poetry or does your poetry define you? Why?

My poetry defines me, I never know where a poem will take me and what form it takes.  Writing poetry is when I feel most free.

I encourage you to support Sam by following her work. At the end of the article there are some links to her Author’s page, websites, and Newsletter.

Additionally, here is one poem of Sam’s that I’d like to share is called You Don’t See Me. It is a further testimony of Sam’s ability to see people, touch hearts, and bring the reader into the story through poetry. It has such a meaningful message and can serve as a reminder to us all of the people in our lives we do not see.

You Don’t See Me, by Sam H. Arnold (excerpt)

You sit there looking at your phone
You ignore me when I come over to you
You don’t see me when I smile and play
You don’t love me as much as you love your phone 

I try to get your attention by climbing
I cry in the hope that you will see me
I throw things to get you to notice me
I know you don’t love me as much as your phone 

See the full poem and the deep message of this piece at You Don’t See Me.

Thank you Sam for sharing a bit of your poetic journey with us. I appreciate your ability to put empathy to words and to share it through poetry. People enjoy seeing the humanity in others and can relate to the stories that you share through your work.

If you would like to follow Sam’s journey, read her work, and become a fan, you can find her on the following platforms:

Sam’s Author Website
Sam on Medium
Sam’s Newsletter
Sam’s Email List

Thank you for reading about this featured poet. I invite you to include poetry in your reading and give this genre a chance to enrich your life. I will be featuring poets on my blog (Author Website), in my newsletter (Author Newsletter), and on my Medium platform (Fiddleheads & Floss Poetry). I welcome you to read about these poets, support them, and perhaps find a poet that brings something very meaningful to your life.

Poetically yours,

Christina Ward, poet, author, and blogger

Become a fan
Purchase ::organic:: (my first poetry collection!!)

Introducing Poet Nikki H. Rose in a Personal Interview on Her Poetry

Through the Eyes of a Poet series, #1

Nikki H Rose has come a long way from writing about a Marshmallow Queen in kindergarten, the first of her writings she remembers making her proud. 

Today she’s a well-educated English teacher with a knack for writing emotional and personal poetry. 

Setting the scenery for a poet

Nikki was born in the great state of New York, but grew up in a rural area of Vermont, surrounded by trees and various mountains where she went skiing and ice skating regularly. 

I am already picturing the quaint scene–snow, red cheeks, smiling faces. 

Nikki lived on the side of a mountain, attending high school only ten minutes away and on the side of another mountain. Fall was her favorite season because of the beautiful foliage there in Vermont. It sounds like a beautiful place and one I can certainly understand setting the stage for an emotive, articulate poet to take flight.

Writing started early

Nikki has been writing for as long as she has been able to put pencil to paper. She specialized in creative writing in her undergraduate studies and continued with education and English courses in graduate school. Nikki keeps her skills fresh with ongoing education courses. 

Many people use writing to escape their minds. I use it to meet mine.–Nikki H. Rose

Nikki shares her poetry on both her personal blog and on her Medium platform where her work has been featured in publications such as  P.S. I Love You and From The Poet’s Heart. Her work has also been chosen by Medium curators for distribution, which is a testimony to the quality of her work.

I asked Nikki to describe the vision and focus of her work:

I tend to focus my poetry on specific emotions more than stories, granted they are often linked together. My goal and vision for my writing is to make it relatable. I want everyone who reads it to get something out of it – to see themselves in it – to feel something – even if it’s not what I had initially intended.

Nikki H. Rose

Nikki has agreed to a brief interview regarding her body of work, her writing process, and her thoughts on poetry and this is what she had to say: 

Tell me about your writing process with regards to writing poetry, specifically.

I seem to have a unique process for writing poetry, based on what other poets tell me. When I get an idea for a concept – usually linked to an emotion – I can crank out a poem it its final form within ten minutes. For me, the longest part of the process is simply coming up with the concept itself.

Tell me about one of your poems that is very special to you, and why. 

I’ll be honest, I’ve written a lot of poetry in my life, and until I reread them, many of the pieces from years ago that used to speak to me in volumes, are pieces that I don’t think about regularly. 

Recently, I’m proud of my piece called “I Miss You” because, for me, the meaning is centered on the loss of my grandmother. I lost her a few years ago and the pain has never subsided. I continue to ache from her loss – but the piece is more than this. It’s a chance for readers to connect with their own loss, and to recognize that while it’s okay to grieve, they don’t have to grieve alone. If I’m writing about it, it becomes clear to many who read, that they are not alone in the process.

I Miss You

I miss you
the you that I remember
the you that you once were

I miss your smile
that lit up the room
that was contagious

I miss your laugh
as it reverberated around me
humming deep within

Read the full poem on P.S. I Love You

If you had a piece of advice for other poets, what would that be?

My biggest piece of advice is to write what you feel. Don’t focus on rhyme scheme or even the enjambment to begin with. Worry about that, if you want to, during your revisions. Focus on the meaning – the emotion – and your own personal connection to the piece. Why are you writing it? Let that reason drive you.

What would you say to people who may not consider poetry to be “their thing?”

I would tell them that I agree with them. Poetry is largely not my thing, because most of the published poetry in the world comes from a story-based background. Not from one that is easily relatable and emotional. Many also require deep decoding and analysis in order to properly understand. 

Some poetry can be simple, and yet hold so much meaning. But my main appreciation for poetry comes from the fact that you can get out of it exactly what you want. If you want simple, you get simple. If you want in-depth, you search for the in-depth and you’ll get it.

One last question, do you define your poetry or does your poetry define you? Why?

Neither. I don’t believe one thing can define me, but my poems come to life on their own and define themselves as they go. I can start one poem with an idea in mind, but it’ll often end in a completely different direction with completely different emotions and stories behind them.

Thank you Nikki for sharing a bit of your personal story with us. I truly appreciate your ability to turn emotion into poetry. Many people can appreciate this and find a deep connection to your work and perhaps, feel a bit less alone in their own human experiences. 

One poem that I found particularly beautiful is Living in the Present. I think the message of the poem is so poignant,  empathetic, revealing, and yes, relatable.

(excerpt)

I look up
lost in a sea
of desires
for something else

I feel the longing
that I see on their
faces

Read the full poem at From the Poet’s Heart

I wish Nikki the best on her journey through words. Let her poetry move you and inspire you to live your best life, connect to your own personal experiences, and take away something poetic.

If you would like to follow Nikki’s journey, read her work, and become a fan, you can find her on the following platforms: 

Nikki’s Blog
Follow Nikki on Medium
Nikki on Goodreads
Nikki on Facebook
Nikki on Twitter

Thank you for reading about this featured poet. I invite you to include poetry in your reading and give this genre a chance to enrich your life. I will be featuring poets on my blog (Author Website), in my newsletter (Author Newsletter), and on my Medium platform (Fiddleheads & Floss Poetry). I welcome you to read about these poets, support them, and perhaps find a poet that brings something very meaningful to your life.

Poetically yours,

Christina Ward, poet, author, and blogger

Become a fan
Purchase ::organic::

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