Small Space, Large Impact
Linda M. Crate
I truly feel that in addition to changing people' s perspectives and forcing people to think
about things in a way that they may not have thought of otherwise; poetry has
the power to heal on multiple levels.
Some poets that inspired me to write when I was younger were Edgar Allan Poe, E.E. Cummings, Adrienne Rich, and Emily Dickinson.
I write poetry, and I find that it can be very healing. It can take all the ugliness or pain
that is balled up inside of me, and help me make sense of it in relation to the world and
who I once was and who I am now. Sometimes it can be therapeutic to simply sit down
and write and see what comes out.
Whether the writing is intentional or I let it flow, the poems always seem to take me in
unexpected places, which I think is a beautiful thing. Because life is a complex journey
full of bitterness and sweetness, so I think that it is awesome that poets; myself included,
can take one line that popped into their brains and form it into something that can better
connect them to the world and to themselves.
Reading poetry can be really healing, as well, because you learn that you may not be
alone in feeling a certain way. You may learn something that you need to explore deeper
and heal in yourself or you may look into a part of a person's life and say, "Yes, I've felt
that, too."
I also love that each poet has their own style and their own voice, and they're all good.
We can all convey the same message with different voices and still be distinct and touch
someone differently, and I love that.
Poetry has the ability to shape the world and shift perspectives, and that is what I love
about it.
I have always been fascinated with words and languages. I always loved to read as a
child, and before I could read myself I loved to be read to. I always thought it was
interesting how you could give someone else the same exact words, and they could write
completely different stories based on their lives and experiences.
Language doesn't always convey things as deeply as we want it to, so I love that poems
have the capacity to take a small space and yet leave a large impact. Poetry is an
important part of my life, and I admire fellow writers and poets. Because it isn't always
easy to deal with the process of rejection, but in the end we still put ourselves and our
words out there in an attempt to heal ourselves and our broken world and I think that's a
wonderful thing.
Linda M. Crate (she/her) is a Pennsylvanian writer whose poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has eleven published chapbooks: A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press - June 2013), Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon - January 2014), If Tomorrow Never Comes (Scars Publications, August 2016), My Wings Were Made to Fly (Flutter Press, September 2017), splintered with terror (Scars Publications, January 2018), More Than Bone Music (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, March 2019), the samurai (Yellow Arrowing Publishing, October 2020), Follow the Black Raven (Alien Buddha Publishing, July 2021), Unleashing the Archers (Guerilla Genesis Press, August 2021), Hecate's Child (Alien Buddha Publishing, November 2021) and fat & pretty (Dancing Girl Press, June 2022), and three micro-chapbooks Heaven Instead (Origami Poems Project, May 2018), moon mother (Origami Poems Project, March 2020), and & so I believe (Origami Poems Project, April 2021). She is also the author of the novella Mates (Alien Buddha Publishing, March 2022).
Her socials include:
https://www.facebook.com/Linda-M-Crate-129813357119547/
https://www.instagram.com/authorlindamcrate/
https://twitter.com/thysilverdoe?lang=en.
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