Lunch with Morgan Parker

On Saturday afternoon, I had the opportunity to meet Morgan Parker. Parker is a Brooklyn-based poet and editor. She has publishedOther People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night, There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonceand much more. During the event, she read some of her poems from her new book of poems, There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce (which is set to be released February 2017).

The audience got to ask her questions and she spoke about her experience as a poet. I learned that it is okay to have doubts as a writer about what you are doing. It is okay to not know what you are doing as a writer but to stay true to yourself. It is okay to experiment with your style and try new things— I mean Whitman did it. A ton of writers do things as experiments but they are also always saying to not go against the norm whether it is a physical person, society, or your Inner No Monster (who takes the fun out of any type of writing).

I was taken away with Parker’s honesty about her inner struggles because I could relate. As a writer, I do not feel like I will have an audience who will enjoy my work. I feel that Parker reminded me that writing is not about getting people to read your books. Rather it is about expressing oneself and if others like it that is a plus. Sometimes when I am writing my story or even a poem (yes, you can get poem blocks) I do not what to do or why I am writing this piece. You can either call it Writers Block, The Inner No Monster or too many options on Netflix.

I, also, learned that reading your poetry out loud it is not for everyone. As a writer, I never liked reading my work aloud, and I have tried it but I would always get nervous. She said to either conquer that challenge or to not read my work aloud. There are a lot of authors who do not read their work aloud like Emily Dickinson, which is the route I think I am going to go. I do love my work but I do not like reading it aloud. It is something published authors get asked to do all the time but they can put Morgan Freeman’s voice coming out of my mouth to read my work.