Facing Fears--Open Mic Night

As you have probably gathered from my blog so far, I’m completely in love with literature, and more specifically poetry. It reminds me to celebrate living—all aspects of living, even the hard times, and I can’t imagine having ever grown up not reading it. A reader of poetry from an early age (I wanted to marry Shel Silverstein when I was a really little girl, and to this day remember when I heard on the radio that he had died on my way to elementary school one day), I began attempting to write some of my own. While I go back and laugh at my early poems now, I have persisted in my pursuit of it ever since.

In high school, I was president of my creative writing club. I organized many coffee houses for student to come and present their works of creative writing, so when I heard that Transy’s literary magazine, The Transylvanian, was holding one of these open-mic nights, I became extremely excited. I, however, had grown incredibly self-conscious about my writing since entering into college. It’s that culture shock—you go from high school and being known for being really good at something, to coming to college and knowing there are countless people who have far greater ability than you. This is fine. I have loved reading some of the incredible poems and works of fiction written by my fellow students, but they nonetheless made me highly critical of my own work. So, the thought of getting up in front of a bunch of the best creative writers in the school, and my poetry professor and academic advisor, made me quite uncomfortable.

The poem I read, I wrote about this picture,

which I took in Shanghai, China during my May Term trip last year!

I realized, though, when the night rolled around, that this was my passion. My skills might not equal some of those who have studied it longer or practice more often, but writing my poems has brought contentment and clarity to my life, and I thought them worth sharing. My legs shook a little while performing them, but afterward, I felt an incredible sense of relief and satisfaction that reminded me how much sharing my love of poetry means to me. It’s so cool that Transy offers so many ways to express your passions—no matter what you’re passionate about, something will come along that will give you the opportunity to share it with others, and believe me, there’s no feeling comparable to the feeling you get after doing it.