FEATURED ARTICLE
J HALEY
PHILLIPS
i
“Evolution Of A Wordsmith”
WAS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL WHEN
I had my first love affair. Scandalous?
Hardly. I’m talking about poetry. All
through my teen years and even into
university, I was the girl with a pencil in
her ponytail, scribbling verses on
napkins if I didn’t have a notebook
handy.
On more than one occasion I had to pull my car to the side
of the road so I could jot down a stanza or two before I lost
the inspiration. And I would spend endless hours scribbling
away—in my room, in school hallways, anywhere I could
sit and think—pouring both my shadows and my shine
onto blue-lined pages. It may not have been a sultry sort of
affair, but there was a burning passion that couldn’t be
denied. Like most young love, however, it wasn’t meant to
last.
I grew up. My hungers and desires evolved. But even as I
moved on to flash fiction and personal essays, I kept close to
heart the deepest awareness that poetry had imparted to me:
the importance of the message, “You are not alone.” This
message is why I write. Anything. Ever. My whole life I’ve
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struggled with ‘feeling too much,’ ‘caring too much,’ joy
and grief vying for first place in a never-ending race of
emotion. And I know I can’t be the only one. So I write it,
and I share it, like a hand reaching out for another in
solidarity.
My first publication on Elephant Journal went viral. I told
a story of heartbreak and healing, illustrating the difficulty I
had in trusting the new and wonderful man in my life. I
ripped away my protective layers and dug down, offering
both the diamonds and the dirt that lay within me as I
related “How to Love a Mending Woman.”
And by sharing this very tender and wounded experience, I
received enormous feedback. Sure, some of it was judgmen-
tal, but most of it was from strangers across the globe
expressing relief and gratitude that I had put into words
something they had not previously been able to articulate.
As the number of views skyrocketed, I could clearly see the
power of sharing your story.
These days, I write far less than I used to. But this is no
tragedy…it is yet another evolution. I finally listened to
APRIL 2017