How did we get here? The origins of A Poetic Journey

We have to go back to April 2020. It was two weeks after Made To Do This wrapped up. I was in a good place after completing the program. But as it was after graduating college, there wasn't much of a plan for the aftermath. I needed something to show for my efforts over the 12 weeks. There was an idea floated about for an online magazine or an ebook.

So I put it to the group, looking for possible ways to publish my writing. Thanks to my colleague Kelly Simmons, I was steered towards Bull City Press and their literary magazine, Inch. I haphazardly put 12 of the poems I had written together and made a manuscript in order to get my submission in before the mid May deadline.

But I was still looking to publish something as it looked like a long shot that a publisher would take the chance on an unknown entity. I thought about going through Kindle Direct Publishing, but I realized soon after that I was in way over my head. Someone else responded to my post, Jenniffer Rivera. After our first meeting, it was agreed that an ebook would be published. As the summer went on, the piece would begin to take shape.

All of the pieces in the book were written in the period of time from March 23rd to June 12th, 2020. During this time, I was furloughed from my day job at the same moment that most of Governor Cuomo's stay at home order was in effect hence the full title of this book: A Poetic Journey, Staying At Home. 

There's no central theme in this book as these poems run the emotional gamut. From coming to terms with being diagnosed early in life with cerebral palsy, to the moment where I began to be hard on myself back in elementary school. To observations about the things in the world around me. And being a witness to Olympic history with a fond memory of family. All of these pieces put together are part of the ever evolving puzzle. 

Welcome to the poetic journey, dear readers!