Her story:
Gabrielle Grace Hogan is a poet from St. Louis, Missouri (USA). Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Spiral Orb, LEVELER, The Penn Review, and others. In 2017, she won the Academy of American Poets' University & College Prize for her poem 'pools'. Currently she is pursuing her B.S. at Bradley University, with plans to pursue an MFA after graduation.
How has English or language served as an empowerment tool for you?
"Literature has been a safe haven for me all my life. I was shy as a kid, had few friends, and didn't feel like I belonged. I still struggle to feel like I belong, but being able to read and write as widely as I do has proven it is always possible to find a space for you. As a lesbian writer with bad depression and anxiety, there are several factors working against me -- internally and externally -- and writing gives me the opportunity to build a world outside of the ways in which the world might want to see me fail. I use my poetry as an avenue for my own catharsis, for venting my frustrations and building my own world in which I am powerful and strong, even if I don't feel that way all the time in my daily life. I also see it as a way to prove to other writers like me, who may be reading, that someone else has the same struggles and frustrations -- to read someone describe your pain or joy in their own metaphors is so empowering to the connection and community of literature. Language is how we communicate; that statement at first glance sounds redundant, because of course we use language to talk to one another. But more than that, we use our ability of language to craft new worlds, new metaphors, new ways to think of something that has always been in front of us but never recognized until the right words give it physical shape. I'm no artist of paint or music; just let me talk to you. Just let writers talk, and you will hear something life-changing."
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