Mythical Poetry, Another Introduction

So I have decided that St. Augustine is a great place to make a week long introduction. Yesterday I showed you chalk art. Today I am going to share poetry. After all it is part of what got me here! In case you missed yesterday’s article I will add the link to the bottom of this one.

Besides being a chalk artist, I am also a poet.
Poetry is one of my passions. This past September I completed a Year and a Day of Mythical Poetry. I took a personal challenge to write 365 poems over the course of a year. I watched the movie “Julie and Julia” and was inspired by her story of cooking all of Julia Childs recipes over the course of a year. I figured, why not? I already wrote about three a week, what would a few more be?

The journey was really incredible. I am a migraine survivor. Used to be that I got migraines on a weekly basis. Then I found an incredible device that lowered their frequency but didn’t take them away completely. (It’s called the Q-Link if you want to look it up.) When I started the poetry challenge it wasn’t until I was checking how many poems I wrote verses the days that had passed, that I realized that I had gone as many days without a migraine. There is something about writing poetry to process feelings that helped me emotionally deal with stress in my life. It helped me go 100 days (and then some) without a migraine. Creative expression and health go hand in hand.

Not only does poetry affect my own health, but people were (and still are) leaving comments on my website about how it affected them too. One was a woman who suffered from a car accident that left her in a wheelchair. Some days the pain was pretty intense, and on her “hard” days she would come read my poetry to give her strength. I also have a guestbook, where visitors can sign. One was from a teenager who wanted to let me know that because of my poem “Cut” that she doesn’t cut herself anymore. This is the awesome and humbling power of poetry. Not just mine, but anyone’s.

I guess that is why Tom Ski, another writer here in St. Augustine, asked me to be here. There is power and beauty in finding some one who isn’t afraid to bear their personal pain, joy, and soul through writing. I don’t want you to just read my column, or poetry, but to be affected by it. I like to say that my poetry isn’t “safe” because it makes you look at yourself. So… in that spirit. I dare you to go read some poetry, even if you don’t normally like it, because my poetry isn’t like what you’ve read before. I double dog dare yah!

Namaste’

Mythica

Yesterday’s Article: http://staugnews.com/2011/11/14/mythical-chalk-art-introduction.html
Mythica’s Poetry WebSite: http://www.poetrypoem.com/mythica