Poetry with Lowrey E Gray
This past weekend, I got the wonderful experience of attending a poetry workshop, hosted in an independent bookshop, The Berwyn Bookshop, in North Wales. The wonderful poet, who goes by the pen name of Lowrey E Gray, was interviewed in an independent bookshop in North Wales.
A Special Reconnection
While the poetry workshop would be my cup of tea anyway, it was incredibly special because the poet also happened to be my former GCSE English teacher (when I was 15-16, to non-UK friends!)
If you’ve ever heard my journey to becoming an author and pursuing publication, you might have heard the story of how a particular teacher was inspirational to me. We were set some homework asking questions of ourselves, including what we wanted to do when we were older. I shyly wrote that I wanted to be an author and told her about a story I’d written.
I got the homework back with a big sticky note and a smiley face on it, telling me to go for it. It’s something I’ve never forgotten! Well, you might have guessed that Lowrey E. Gray was this teacher! It was lovely to happen to reconnect with her a few weeks ago on Facebook. When I saw a social media post about the poetry event, I knew I had to go and it was a wonderful afternoon.
A Poetry Workshop
As well as an interview with the poet, the afternoon also included a poetry workshop. During a 10 minute break, we were invited to explore writing poetry for ourselves. The prompt was ‘this is you’, about what we think about ourselves and what makes us unique. I really enjoyed this experience and afterwards we were invited to share what we had written. I don’t know what came over me (well, it was partly my father’s encouragement) but I ended up sharing what I’d written.
I’ve included mine below – the thoughts that came to mind most strongly were reflections on writing itself and the process of thoughts and ideas into words, as well as my Christian faith. You might also spot a mention of Lowrey E. Gray’s inspiration at the end. Hope you enjoy!
Also, if you’re interested, you can check out Lowrey E. Gray’s books at the bookshop here. You can also check out more of Lowrey E Gray’s poetry on her website here.
This is You
‘This is You’
Sensing the rhythm of words unspoken.
A cadence of concepts rushing forth
Reach out to catch them before they fall.
Possessing a hope eternal and untethered
The power of kindness that can change the world.
An anchor outside of myself.
Ideal ideas dancing, empathy embracing
Joy flickering,
But never extinguished.
Memories rising and falling
Like the moon’s waning,
Or the crashing of ocean’s tide
Drawing from imagination’s well
Creating as gifted by the Creator.
Love ever luminescent,
Undaunted against deepest night.
Dreams unfiltered,
Then crystallising into thoughts.
Unlimited inspiration
Sparked by a single phrase.
A sticky-note with a smiley face
That stays with you forever.
Thanks for Reading
Thanks so much for reading! Do you enjoy reading poetry, or would you ever want to give writing poetry a go yourself? I’d love to hear from you – hit the social icons or drop a comment below and let me know! You can also head to my contact me page.
While you’re here, you can also check out my pubished books or my other blog posts.
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Till next time,
Maria.