We are doing written interviews with poets. If you are a poet and would like to participate, copy these questions, paste them into a document and answer them whenever you are ready to do so. You can answer all or as many questions as you want to. You can send us your interview and we will publish it. 

Send your answers here: 
https://www.worksofbeauty.ca/contact.html

The questions

1. When did you start liking poetry?
  
2. How old were you when you wrote your first poem?
  
3. Who is/was your biggest influence?
  
4. What inspires you to write poetry?
  
5. What is/are your most common themes?
 
6. What are your greatest joys in writing?
 
7. Have you published any of your poetry?
 
 8. Where and how do you promote your work?
 
9. Do you read your poems in public?

10. Do you attend open mics? Where?
 
11. Have you done any video poems or podcasts?
 
12. Do you have a writing schedule or do you write when the muse hits you?
 
13. What advice would you give to beginner poets?
 
14. If you could have lunch with a poet, dead or alive, who would it be?
 
15. Do you have a funny story or anything interesting that has happened through your writing poetry?
 
16. Are your family and friends supportive to you in your writing?
 
17. Have you ever written a poem that you've never shown to anyone?  Why not?  What was it about?
 
18. What's the most difficult part for you in being a poet?
 
19. Are you involved in other arts?
 
20. If you could be on a popular show what would it be?

21. Would you like to share any links to your work? (Please do not send more than 10 links)

​You sing a sweet song my love
The beauty of your eye beneath the brow
You sing a sweet song my love
And to you I believe I vow
To be one with sound
A valley where the owl bellows
Out it’s only tune
As my heart may allow
As it is immune to their wicked words of song
But in you there’s another word to be heard
I found it true all along
The sort of truth within a string
It whispers that it may belong
You sing a sweet song my love
The earthy air and sky is free upon the hour
The belly of laughter and love upon our skin blooms like a flower
You sing a sweet song
And dreamers are on the prowl
They beg to you for sweetness
You return to them a song
And in them you find your weakness
Yet with you they still feel strong
You sing a sweet song my love
The beauty of your eye beneath the brow
Within I see dimensional wholesome openness somehow
And I can’t contain the feeling
As beneath I hide my brokenness
As we hone our skills
I must obtain the kneeling trees
That bow
Will you dance they would say
Do you know how
And to them you’ll sing
Sing you will
And their roots will grow remarkably well
As tomorrow brings another story
That they’ll never tell
The doves sit in the trees
Singing songs sweet like a million little bells
Getting down upon their knees
As the world will bestow upon thee
A moment to be free
As my heart may allow
You sing a sweet song my love
And I won’t stop until you’re found.

But still, you feel small
Your petals are minuscule
Your ideas of self worth are comparative
​
​The rain comes again in the fall
But you didn’t know you were still
Growing beneath it all
The roots grow stronger with time
So in the summer
When the sunlight hit you
You broke open
And it is scary,
To break
But that is the art of blooming.
Before a flower blooms
It must endure the fiercest rains
In the darkest hour
While still beneath the dirt

But then, there in the soil
There is a crack
Where the sun shines through

And so you begin to follow that light
You emerge on the other side
But still, you feel small
Your petals are minuscule
Your ideas of self worth are comparative
The rain comes again in the fall
But you didn’t know you were still
Growing beneath it all
The roots grow stronger with time
So in the summer
When the sunlight hit you
You broke open
And it is scary,
To break
But that is the art of blooming.
​Sarah Wallace

Small worlds unite when people meet
and share their stories.
We all have our own story to share.
We rejoice when we find a common theme
and feel connected by the invisible tread
of our common humanity.
We listen with the intent to learn and understand
when we hear a story different from ours.
We want to know more detail,
more understanding in areas we can grow.
Small worlds unite when people meet
and share their stories
and when many small worlds unite
our small world grows and grows and grows
until it becomes a unified universe.
 
​Teri Petz

​May all of us who feel
the deep of life, who sense
the mystery just beyond our grasp,
who love the words with which
we ponder, who bear the urge
to paint in words the visions, 
inklings, intimations that
come to us, come through us,
bidden or not--

May we be blessed.

May our lives be blessed,
our homes, our hearts, our hands;
our pens and pencils, blank bits
of paper, our waiting keyboard--
May all our tools be blessed.

May we be blessed with beauty.
May we be blessed with light, both 
within and without, blessed with 
eyes to see and ears to hear,
both within and without, 
hearts to know, and a safe place to be.

May we who gather here to share
the poets’ words, to share our words,
our longings, our deepest fears, 
may our gathering be blessed.

May all be richly blessed
who have a poet’s soul
and pour it into words for
this world’s bettering.
​
Jill Ebsworth 10 Nov 2020

I wanted to thank you, and you,
and you and all of you
for sharing your poetry with me.
Sharing the sadness, the joy,
the frustrations, the humour,
the beauty, sharing your thoughts,
your hopes, your dreams. 
Every time you share your poems
you share more than words with me.
You share a sacred piece of you.
And as we share, we relate,
we connect and we bond with each other
in a deep meaningful way.
Because when I see you
for who you truly are
I appreciate you more
than if we had a superficial
talk about the weather.
Thank you for sharing the sadness,
the joy, the frustrations, the humour,
the beauty, sharing your thoughts,
your hopes and your dreams. 
Thank you for sharing your poetry with me.

​Teri Petz

1. The Closet Poet Series

The closet poet series is paused. You may have some clever new ideas and we will be happy to publish it but we could only come up with so many ways to hide poetry.

The Closet Poet series explores the things we do when we are unsure of ourselves, when we consider ourselves amateur poets. It looks at what beginner poets often do. Some of them might act as a mirror as you see yourself in them, giving you a few funny, "aha "moments. When you read them, you may discover things that you did in the beginning phase of your poetry career. Our goal is to let you know it is perfectly OK and normal to not want to put it all out there in the beginning.
 
However we want to encourage you to come out of the so called "poetry" closet and share your work. You may want to start in baby steps and only share it with people you trust and once you feel more comfortable you can share your poems publicly. There are so many ways and places to share your poems when you are ready. Once you learned a few poetry hacks and feel more experienced we would be happy to connect you with the wonderful world of poetry communities.
 
Keep going, keep writing!  We were all beginners once.


2. The Good Poet Series

The Good Poet series dives into what it takes to be a good poet. When you no longer think of yourself as a beginner poet, when you have gained some confidence in your writing, you can relate to the posts. Heck, you can even write some for us!  The truth is, there is no one way to write poetry, there are many ways. There is no one characteristic or quality it takes to be a good poet. Again, it takes many. The most important thing is to believe in yourself and your abilities. The best way to do that is by reading other people's poems and to surround yourself with a supportive community. One good tip is to read your poem aloud.  Listen to the rhythm, listen for any clunky parts. Rewrite, refine, redo. If it sounds good leave it! If parts need to  be rewritten, rewrite it! If it needs polishing repolish it! If it needs redoing from scratch, redo it! Don't think of this as wasted time. It is how you evolve as a poet. 

3. Poems, poems, and more poems

We love poetry and are ready to publish our poems and yours. This is where we hope to hear diverse voices from beginner to experienced poets. You can find some poems here already and hope you will stick around for more to come. Would you like to submit you poems? Click here to get started.

​Click here for Tell It Like It Is Poets on Instagram