By Dana Latisha Young
Based on my 1st blog post “Poetry is My Oxygen”, where I wrote about my poetry start and love. I wrote this paragraph “I have always loved poetry from the moment I first read my 16 year old sister’s poems when I was 11 years old – I’ve been hooked. It fascinated me to discover that there is a style of writing with such a beautiful sound, almost like a cadence or a heart beat. I had to try it out for myself.”
This is the reason that I am starting the poet interviews with my sister:
Kevina T.
Interview
Q1: How did you first get into writing poetry—was there a specific story or mentor that set you on this path?
A1: My love of writing started with reading. I enjoyed a good book as a kid and how it could transport you into the role of the characters you’d read about. Once I got into middle school reading and writing went together called language arts. In those classes I was challenged to use my imagination and translate it into word form. Once I started high school the writing got more intense and started to come from a deeper place because I started to experience more growing up. I didn’t know or understand what I was feeling and going through so I decided to journal like “Doug”. But then it developed more into spoken word like music then into poetry.
Q2: Which poets or authors have had the most profound impact on your own creative soul?
A2:The only poets I grew up learning about was “Maya Angelou and Langston ” the black American writers of the past became the reason it made sense to write about my experiences
Q3: What do you find beautiful or inspiring in everyday life that often finds its way into your work?”
A3: I refer to the sky a lot in my poems. But truly nature and its mysteries is what I pull from to give clarity on where I’m going with my thoughts
Q4: Do you prefer working within traditional poetic forms, or do you find more freedom in free verse or experimental styles?”
A4: I prefer to freestyle my writing I find when I try to stick to a format my writing gets lost and doesn’t flow as well.
Q5: What is the one piece of advice you wish you had received when you first started writing?”
A5: One piece of advice would be to keep writing. Don’t stop developing your talents
Q6: What message or emotional impact do you hope your readers take away from your work?
A6: That life is about growth you never have it figured out, just live in the moments learn from the past and enjoy the ride.
Do you have a message to say to the readers? Thank you so much for this opportunity to share with you my journey with writing
Kevina T. hasn’t written as much recently but her gift and love of writing has never went away. She writes songs and poems whenever opportunity and inspiration strikes.
I started this interview wanting to allow my readers to learn about my sister, who influenced my poetry journey…and I ended up learning things about her that I never knew as well.
I wish her the best on her journey and it was my pleasure and an honor to write about her poetic connection and story.
Thank you for reading this post. One of her poems included below:
Judge
By Kevina T.
The rules as I choose. –
Are not simple, but misused…
To find a way around..
Things lost and never found
The ode to life is “Happy
Wife, Happy life’.
When life is not fulfilling
Does it mean the wife is
not willing…
To commit to her roles
and all the rules she
must uphold.
Love Honor and Obey…
With these laws she must
pay…the ultimate price with
her life…forever confined to the
rules…Against
her Ode to life..
Happy life, Happy Wife…
Poetic Blueprint 