O C E A N is an evocative collection of poetry that unlocks the wonders of life and washes away the pain and heartbreak. What are some things that inspire you to write poetry?

Everything around me!! I’m deeply observant and a deep thinker and feeler so I’m easily inspired by everything. There might be a moment where I’m just looking at the sun and then the result is a poem about how the love of my life makes me feel as if the sun is always shining on my skin – warm, comforted, and bright. I love being able to take the ordinary things from life and make them extraordinary with words. There is a poem in my book where I talk about my partner coming home from a long day of work and my excitement to see him. Something so simple yet beautiful touches me deeply – and I get to write about it! Also, one of my biggest inspirations is sound. Whether it’s just an instrumental or a song with lyrics – I love sound. I can get in touch with the energy of a song or tune and can deeply observe how it makes me feel, then write about it. Just one song could bring me back to a childhood memory and invoke whatever it was that I was feeling at that time, resulting in a poem about how I used to admire the beauty of butterflies and wonder if I too had beautiful wings. I would say that – most importantly – my ability to use my senses has been one of my biggest strengths when it comes to writing.

What emotions do you find you often explore in your poetry?

Up until the past few years I’d say most of the emotions that I have explored in my poetry were related to heartbreak and pain. Writing about those experiences gave me a way to release emotions that I wished not to carry anymore. I’ve had my fair share of heartbreak and pain, so for a while, that’s all I wrote about. Then, in 2018, I had my spiritual awakening & shortly after, met my partner. Love was installed in me at such a deep level and I quite frankly didn’t know what to do with it. Slowly but surely my narrative started to change, and I wanted to talk about all things love. For once, it was being reciprocated from life itself and relationships and I wanted to tell the world about it and still do! Because love is so universal, it helped me broaden the topics I tap into with my poetry like the power of positivity, healing, romance, love for self, meditation, affirmations, creativity, and much more. I’ve always been an emotional person, as in I’ve felt pain deeply; I can finally say that I’m an emotional person as in I feel love and joy deeply and going forward, a lot of my works of art will portray that. I’m really looking forward to it.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

O C E A N was designed to be very healing – so the big themes were as follows: pain from the past, struggles of the healing process, making it through, and the embodiment of love for the present and future. It was important to show the waves of healing that occurred for me and wanted the reader to grasp that healing isn’t linear and it’s not a destination but things do get easier and love is on the way, especially love for self but it’s not a pre-requisite for healing. I believe people and things happen in our life to help initiate love for self. I don’t believe that one must love themselves fully to attract and receive love. It’s a human need and we all deserve that no matter where we are in our journey. I also wanted the reader to have something they could lean on in my book and that’s where the light house pages come into play. Lighthouse pages are opportunities for the reader to check in with how they are feeling, rest, recalibrate, drink water, and practice a healing exercise for self-care. My intention is for everyone who reads O C E A N to experience love, especially from me, as the author, no matter where they are in the world.

Do you have plans to write and publish more works of poetry?

I absolutely do! I have a detailed plan already in the works and I plan on getting started very soon. Right now, I’m enjoying O C E A N being out there in the world and giving myself grace for just accomplishing a major goal! Rest is important for me, and I don’t tend to immerse myself into the 24/7 grind era. I believe that the next book will patiently wait until I am ready and so will my readers because all good things come with rest and proper care!! I’m looking forward to bringing them to fruition when that time comes. I haven’t seen any other poet do what I’m about to do – so I’m excited! These next few works will take the reader through a complex, fun, euphoric and blissful journey, and I can’t wait to take nature with me and create that ride!

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