By: Brittany Benko
When I was fourteen years of age, I wrote my first poem in school as an English assignment. It was about the world and how to better mankind. As an introvert, I was able to express myself in ways I couldn’t verbally because of my shyness. The assignment made me look up more poems, and I started to keep a journal of random thoughts and ideas I kept inside. Some thoughts were in poetic form, and writing poetry became a hobby I looked forward to in my quiet time. I guess you could say I found a passion for poetry because of my love for reading and my introverted personality.
Poets Who Inspire Me
Edgar Allen Poe is a poet who fascinates me. His poetry is known to be dark, but he revealed strong emotions and told a story with a dramatic quality. He mostly used narrative forms of poetry, which tells a story.
Another poet I admire is Emily Dickinson. She wrote with lyric form, which portrays personal emotions or feelings. I personally enjoy her writings on spirituality because I myself am always looking for spiritual growth.
Sara Teasdale is a poet who wrote about love, death, and spiritual beauty with the harmonies about the spiritual world. I love classic poets who showed pure, openhearted lyrics with excellence.
A modern-day poet I’ve come to love is Rachel Alexander. She has a poetry blogging website called, Autism Through Poetry, and she writes about her experiences with her son who is on the spectrum. I, too, have a son who recently was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Reading about special needs families lets me know I’m not alone on my parenting journey.
Personal Inspiration
Since my son is on the spectrum, some writings of mine are inspired by him. “One of a Kind,” “The Silent Type,” “Mothering Autism,” and “Playing my Cards” are poems I wrote explaining what parenting children with autism spectrum disorder is like.
Being married to a cop also has a huge influence on what I am passionate about. We both live in judgement daily because of his career choice, and sharing emotions about our lifestyle is important to me. Thankfully, most of our family and friends support his decision to protect and serve.
Being a mother of two makes me feel more like a kid at times than an adult. Little Baby Bum and Disney videos are constantly playing in my home, so children’s poetry comes naturally to me. There are a few children’s poems on my blog, and I plan on creating a children’s poetry book in a future project.
My Writing Style
I prefer to rhyme when writing poetry, but I do have contemporary pieces as well. I tend to write better when my poems rhyme.
Before I write, I’ll think of a topic. If I do not have enough knowledge about the subject, I’ll do some research. Gaining knowledge about your topic and adding your own feelings towards what you are writing about can really suck in the reader.
There’s a method I like to stick to when writing poetry. I keep two tabs open in my browser: Dictionary and RhymeZone. It’s tedious, but it helps me to select the appropriate word for each poem.
When I decided to start a blog (Poetic Poetry) in 2019, I only planned on sharing my poetry with the world as a hobby. As I created social media pages, I connected with other poets who self-published their poetry into a book. I was astonished at how simple the process was, and I now have a poetry book, Poetic Poetry: A Short Collection of Poems, available for purchase on Amazon.
I am currently trying to get my book into local bookstores and libraries for publicity. Another useful tip for helping to get noticed is to write poems for magazines. I’ve learned to take criticism with a grain of salt. I’m open to guidance, but at the end of the day, I may just not be someone’s cup of tea. My goals are to write multiple poetry collections and to create children’s picture books.
About Brittany Benko
Brittany Benko is a special needs mother and a law enforcement wife. She has self-published a book of poetry, Poetic Poetry: A Short Collection of Poems, on Amazon and has been featured in the Autism Parenting Magazine and the Open Door Poetry Magazine as a poet. She is currently working on a children’s picture book about autism spectrum disorder and a poetry collection about law enforcement lifestyle. You can read my interview with Benko here!
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It’s really cool that a school assignment inspired her love of poetry.
Yes. I know that school assignments were really big motivators for me as well, and encouragement and compliments from teachers were a big motivator in that pursuit.