When did you start writing poetry?

I first started writing poems in the fourth grade. (When they were part of my English course) I had a constant issue with making stories instead of poems. This went on for days until I slowed down long enough to come out with “The Night Sky” From memory, it goes something like:

Oh the Night Sky
So peaceful
So beautiful.
But I wonder what it's like up there.
Could be bad. Or good. Oh the Night Sky
So beautiful

My teacher read the poem and a exclaimed, “That IS beautiful!”? I was blushing. She sent my work in to a nation-wide poetry contest for children called, There's Magic in Words.. or something. The poem didn't win, but it got published with all the other entrants. I could boast that I was a published poet since I was eight years old, and that made me happy.

What can poetry do?
Writing poetry gives people the chance to express anything they like. With it, they can explore curious reaches of their minds. They can choose to be very descriptive, or leave some for the imagination of the reader. It's always a creation, and I think that's why I like it so much. Reading poetry often times gives what you're carrying in your mind and on your chest the words to give release.

What’s the best response you can have to a poem?
The best response would be for someone to take the poem in a way that it was not written for. The best meanings in life are the non-intentional. Even if you have to omit certain words or lines, When the poem makes you feel something that's beneath the surface of your subconscious and just rises out...It's simply the best. A true discovery.

Do you prefer page or performance poetry?
They're both great for different reasons. Some poems are better read silently than aloud. A poem such as Anis Mogjani's “Shake The Dust" is a poem that I can only fathom loving out of his mouth with my ears. But on paper, it would lose its draw, I think.

What’s your favourite line that you know off by heart?
I don't have one. I can't think of poetry in memory. Only ever in the now.

Please link us to 2 of your favourite poems and tell us why you’ve chosen them (include one of your own):

Rolkan (Suicide) by Jeremy R. Frenette
Click here
Comment: Rolkan is a word meaning death (by suicide) from a language I am developing. It's my reaction to Stephen King's The Dark Tower.

Dandelion by Rickie Louis

Comment: This poem captures something I think about often enough, but in better words than I could ever come up with.