I don’t care what your English teacher says. They can meet me on the playground after school if they want to get down and dirty. — There’s no debate when it comes to the em dash. It is, unequivocally, the king of all punctuation marks. And Emily Dickinson is its queen. Why? Because the em dash has all the power and versatility of other punctuation marks — commas, semicolons, colons — plus a lot more.

Hey there! Alexander here. I love using alliteration in my poems, prose & other writings. For those that are unfamiliar with alliteration, it is defined as: “Alliteration is […] a stylistic literary device which is identified by the repeated sound of the first or second letter in a series of…

Why the NFT marketplace is ready for a surge of literature — CryptoKitties. CryptoPunks. Bored Apes Yacht Club. These are all notable names in the NFT universe. But I predict the next big use case for NFTs (non-fungible tokens) on the blockchain will be poetry. For poetry, it all started in the early 2010s, when a wave of poets found their popularity…

The 5 big reasons I want to get back into vlogging — I’m not new to vlogging. In fact, several years ago, I was vlogging almost daily. But in the vertical format, using Snapchat as my video camera app. What I loved about Snapchat—at least back then—is that I could record short snippets, save them and the app would automatically compile them…

Poets of the world — I have three questions for you: What if your poetry could only touch one heart? Would you still write poetry? Would you still want to share it with the world? As a poet, I have a story to tell the world. A message I must…

Or more specifically — how living your life is like writing a poem — And if you’ve written a handful of poems or more in your lifetime, then my analogy should make sense to you. But if you haven’t written poetry before, I’ll go through the process many poets take to write a poem. First, a thought or idea comes to you. It could…

The reasons poetry is transformational and life-changing — The Role of the Poet A poem is more than just a poem because it reveals the soul of its author. But a poet is not an angel who sits on your shoulder whispering words into your ear. Poets are ordinary people who, by sheer force of will, have transformed their lives into art. They…

How Poetry Shapes Our World and Our Lives — The mind, our thoughts, our language, our words, the body, our behaviors, all of it, we are connected to the world. Ultimately, we influence the world, and it influences us. How the world influences us is through our surroundings, through our relationships, and through our use of language. …

A poem dedicated to all the mothers in the world — I’m going to tell you a story about the day you were born It was a Monday or a Tuesday or perhaps another day of the week It was some time after dusk or maybe the sun had risen in the sky Day or night — it did not matter, because There was a…

Three reasons you should read a poem-a-day — Can poetry really make us smarter? I believe it does. And it’s one reason I advocate for people to read poetry often. In fact, I encourage you to read one new poem every day. Or dare I say, challenge you to read a poem-a-day. A great resource for this is…

Through Night and Luna, a new sonnet rhyming structure is born — In November 2019, I published a double couplet on my Facebook page. It was an immediate hit with my followers and helped me grow my social media following to over 500,000 strong. At times, the poetic piece—what my fans thought was a complete poem—took on a life of its own. …

It’s a fact: we all have bad days. And sometimes a short poem is just what we need to set us straight. That’s why I’ve compiled five original poems I’ve written in hopes my words can brighten your day. Or the day of someone you love, care about, and cherish. 1. There’s Something More Than The Pain …

These words of wisdom from Walt Whitman may change how you view life — My favorite inspirational quote from a poet is from Walt Whitman. He wrote: “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself: I am vast, and I abound in multitudes.” Walt Whitman was not only a poet, but a philosopher of life and living. When I read Walt Whitman’s…

A collection of poetry for anybody who needs to know they’re not alone in their pain and anguish. — It’s okay not to be okay. Life isn’t always a stretch of uninterrupted happiness. If we can communicate our problems and listen to the tales of others who are going through similar issues, we may just overcome them. Remember, you are still a valuable human being deserving of love and…

From the Works of William Shakespeare to the Beat Poets’ Counterculture Movement — It is an oft-repeated idea that good writing and poetry can change the world. Whether it be bringing about revolution or simply changing the views of society, poems and poets have made a real difference in this world. There are many examples of such moments throughout history, but these 7…

A poem about what ‘home’ means to me — They say home is where the heart is But sometimes home lies in your dreams — Where all the world you’re not familiar with, but still love, can be seen “It’s magical”, that’s how I’d describe a dream The things you’ve never done or been before are suddenly real But home can also be…

Unlike other forms of writing, poetry invites us to partake in a personal experience with the poet and the poem — What I love about poetry — in its purest form — is that it doesn’t sell you. It invites you into an experience. Asking you to step into the world of the poet. To see what she sees. To feel what she feels. To become one with the poem, while…

Language is power. Even the mere action of sitting down to write — pencil touching paper or finger on touch screen — inspires thought and emotion. It is a physical manifestation of something intangible, an abstraction meant to capture moments forever, otherwise lost in time. Through the use of language…

I was inspired to try my hand at writing Rupi Kaur-style poems after hearing about her Amazon Prime Video exclusive streaming deal. I thought it would be a fun writing exercise to write a few poems in the same style as her. …

Poetry is a collaborative art form. It’s not just the author who gets to decide what goes into it. The reader also plays an important role in shaping the poem, because how they interpret it will depend on their mood and feelings at that moment. When you write a poem…