I Don’t Poet
I Write
I… if I can be frank, am the kind of Writer who believes that every genre is open to me. I, if I apply myself accordingly, can tackle these various genres using the skills and gifts that I have earned, learned, and attained. The fact that I connect the most with poetry does not mean that I am a Poet. I prefer the description/title/label Writer so much more. If I am feeling lovestruck, lovesick, doubtful of love, heartbroken, or misunderstood, I may lean toward poetry to flesh out those feelings.
If I want to be direct in my delivery, talk about politics and the imminent descent of this nation — this world, or give you pieces of who I am in full detail, straight-no-chaser, I go for nonfiction. If there are characters residing in my headspace, beating on the floorboards of my brain, I turn to my good friend fiction. If a thought is around, has no place to go, and simply wants to live outside of my head, free from being boxed-in, I may create a quote or an aphorism (for those of you who followed me during my very brief stint on Instagram, you may have read a few.)
I have stood by what one of my college professors said to me, “You write, Tremaine. There is not a designated category for you. You are a Writer.” It has guided me to this day.
I think Artists or Creatives do not want to be categorized or pigeonholed into certain spaces the creative world or their peers have hand-picked for them. It has been my experience to write what comes to me, in any form, but write. How, as a Writer who is known for one or a couple of genres, do you break away from the label? Are you, the Writer, struggling to balance what you are known for and what you love?
There was a time when I wrote fiction and nothing but for nearly one solid year. This was well before my days on Medium. It is what captivated me, what kept me afloat. I was in a place where living in the land of make-believe was better suited for my well-being. And even still, when I wrote for a small, up-and-coming online magazine, all of my work was nonfiction or journalistic and fact-based. Juggling every genre can be a test, but when you yearn to write from every feeling erupting from your spirit, there will never be just one category for all of your work.
I Don’t Poet
I Write
And without the grueling, sometimes exhausting, and all-out mind-numbing beauty of writing, I would not be able to properly assert and motivate myself. I would not be able to build up where life has torn down some pieces of me. I would not move through each struggling moment — optimistic at each turn when moments of fear show up and attempt to stay. Essentially, if I was unable to write and write freely…
I would not be me.
Author’s Note: In my work, in my writing, I want to be my best self. I only hope that I can continue to grow with it as time passes. My prayer is to leave my mark and help others do the same. Peace.
