Two weeks ago, in my creative writing class, we had to present the poetry we had written throughout the unit. I had never shared my poetry with anybody, mostly because I had never viewed myself as a ‘good’ poet. So I got up in front of the class, projected my poems, and read them aloud with a quivering voice.
It went better than expected in that I didn’t stumble over the words as I presumed I would, however, I was still a nervous wreck. At the end of my presentation however our professor grinned and said that I should submit my poem to a publisher that he knew. I was shocked at this statement, but quickly became hopeful. I stayed after class and he provided me with the email of a man who I will leave unnamed.
Shortly after I submitted two of my poems, I heard back and was told that he was going to publish my poems in his writers column known as the “Lyrical Summerville”. I was elated to finally feel validated for the amount of time and work that I have dedicated to writing. I waited for two weeks for my poems to be published, and just this morning, Wednesday October 27, 2021, I have officially become a published poet.
It is a small newspaper, so to others it may not seem like much, but to me, it is one of my greatest achievements. I am so excited to have had a piece of me shared with the world. I couldn’t be prouder of myself and my mom apparently feels the same way considering she has already shared the article with her friends and our family.
This is just the first step in making my dreams a reality and I am so excited to see what the future has to offer.