It’s been over a year in the making of a revolution, Apoeticlife.com has finally come to fruition. Apoeticlife.com as it is affectionately named marks the ending of an era and the beginning of a new. It is my pleasure now to present it to you. A poetic life is a life such as my own. Poetry is where my heart found its home. In those times where I felt invalidated and alone I wrote words that turned pain into power, and brought light to my darkest hour.

 

It was one day twelve years ago when I knew that others could see that light too.  That moment found me in 1995 sitting in the auditorium of JHS 57 in Brooklyn New York. Our principal, Mr. Norris had called a school wide meeting once again and we all wondered who was in trouble this time. JHS 57 had a lot of troubled young people, who lived in surrounding areas riddled with crime. You just never knew when might be your time.

Mr. Norris had arrived and there he was standing on stage in front of the entire school where he had stood many times. He had a letter in his hand which a student had written, and in it he said there were some things that he hoped we would come to understand. He read “Dear Mr. Norris Oh do we have a school or do we have a place where all the children rule, oh no lets take action, lets not let them rule, lets exercise our right to have a better school”. As he read on for there was so much more to read, I saw thousands of my fellow students erupt in a mixture of emotions that day. Something special was taking place, something I saw the evidence of on each students’ face. It was the moment when I first knew what the power of words could do, that they could be a light in our darkest hour turning pain into power.

When I wrote that letter to Mr. Norris, that is what those words were for me. I could never have known he would then be inspired to call a school wide meeting just to share it with everybody.