To read the Mom poem, check it out here.

Writing:

For obvious reasons, this poem was hard to craft. When I was first told about the events that are illustrated in the poem, I had no intentions of writing about them. At least, not right away. As my poem says, I wanted to go back in time and protect my mom — what was there that I could do now to make this situation any better? And it took me some time to realize that my mom didn't need my help healing anymore. She is a strong, resilient motherf***er who went through the healing process and is only telling me this horrible tragedy because it's my story too.

Editing:

This poem was one of the first I wrote and performed as an official member of the 2015 Hamline University Poetry Slam team. That meant that the first week of practice, I was getting really intimate with other writers that only wanted to propel my writing to the next level. Honestly, the entire editing and practicing process of this poem changed me as a person. I gained a new level of confidence and, if you ask me, empathy.

Performing:

I was actually fortunate enough to have my mother in the audience when I performed this poem at CUPSI (College Union Poetry Slam Invitational) in Austin, Texas back in April. I'll give it away now, the poem scored incredibly well — receiving two 10s from random audience members acting as the judges for that bout. However, the points had never been so far off from the point than the day I performed that poem. In the freezing auditorium, I wobbled on stage in my platforms and - yeah, you guess it, a crop top - and began to recite what I'd put every part of me into over the last few weeks, and when I was done, I walked off the stage and into my mother's arms. She was crying, I was crying, my coach was crying; I was so incredibly moved by the amount of people that were moved by my story. By our story. That was the moment I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Well, maybe not exactly, but I did solidify my love for making people feel their rawest emotions with a couple words on a piece of paper. Writing is my life, it's in my DNA, and it's the most real thing about me. How could I not indulge, take it one more step further, and share my stories with the world?