Q&A with Carly

ES: Who are your artistic influences?
C: My influences range from quotes I have heard or lines in a song that may have just struck a chord. Most of my poetry has a quote from somewhere that I use as inspiration for what I was feeling at the time. Words influence me; beautifully phrased and understandable words. When something I read or hear impacts me deeply, I tend to use it so as to inspire what is going on within me. Therefore I don’t have any one person that has influenced my writing; I am influenced by many, by myself and by my experiences.

ES: What have you learnt from poets who have come before you?
C: I believe that words whether written, sung, randomly spoken or rehearsed can alter reality and shift paradigms. I have learnt from poets before me that words can heal the wounds, words can connect you to God, and words can bring chaos as well as order. I have learnt that my poetry doesn’t have to make sense to anybody, but me. I have learnt that writing keeps you connected to who you are; the side that you show and the side that you don’t become one, when you put your soul on paper.

ES: What do you hope to achieve with your poetry?
C: Poetry is a form of self-expression; I hope to achieve just that. I wish to share those parts of me that are hidden, but that do define me. I want to encourage that kind of sharing; it’s when we give a part of ourselves and don’t expect anything back. We just desire to be heard and accepted. For now, this is all I wish to achieve.

ES: What motivates you to keep working on your poetry, when things become difficult and challenging?
C: I've realised that journaling; a form of staying in touch with those inner thoughts, is very important when things become difficult; as it still keeps me connected to what’s going on inside of me. My journaling takes on the form of “letters to God” where I write to Him and in some cases, I write a response from Him. This has assisted me tremendously as it keeps me writing, and not for the purpose of writing a poem; but for the purpose of reflection on life. There are many times when I don’t have the words to express what I’m feeling and thinking, writing to God helps me with that. It’s when I do know what I am feeling and thinking, the words come alive in the form of poetry.

ES: If there’s one boundary or misconception you could knock down about poetry and being a poet, what would it be?
C: We are all poets. We all use words to express ourselves; whether sung, spoken, in thought or acted out. All these stem from our desire to communicate; poetry stems from the desire to communicate with oneself. We yearn to understand where we are, who we are and why we are, and we desire to share that understanding with others. Some people are more eloquent, some are more dramatic, some are easily understood and some need a bit more time to make things clearer. Whatever the case or whoever the person, we are all poets; authors of our own lives. Words help us make sense of who we are and where we are, some people just realise why they are, through the sharing of their poetry.