A Journey of Self-Expression | Juggling Responsibilities and Crafting Poetry

Another week, another post. This week marks the sixth week since the new school term began. I'm struggling to manage my daily routine - it feels like I'm constantly spinning on an endless wheel, and frankly, it's both exhausting and disheartening. I rarely find time to engage on HIVE, even though I'm eager to share my daily posts with the community. I salute all of you who consistently post and interact with the platform. I don’t know how you manage it, but I wish I could muster the same drive and determination to show up every day, despite feeling overwhelmed by life.

Despite juggling my endless daily responsibilities, I still make time for art. I've refused to compromise on this, maintaining my discipline to work on art even when I feel unmotivated. Throughout the day, numerous distractions disrupt my creative flow significantly. However, with whatever little time I can spare, I've been working on a series of drawings that incorporate some of my poetry.

Yes, poetry - I've been writing poems now and then for many years, long before I pursued visual art. But I'm a closet poet, keeping my work private except for a poem I wrote back in fourth grade (Primary 4), which earned praise from my teacher.

As a schoolgirl, I wrote poetry in Malay, my second language. But as I grew older and became more fluent in English, my third language, I found it easier to express myself. English has become my dominant language, the one in which I think and articulate myself more effectively.

📝So Why Poetry? 📝

Poetry is different from prose because it gets its message across quickly and powerfully. It uses a tight and rhythmic style to express the poet's deep feelings and thoughts in just a few words. This makes it easy for the reader to feel and understand the poet's emotions, often leaving a strong impression with just a few lines. I like that aspect of poetry. It cuts through the wordiness of prose and gets straight to the point.

Two decades ago, poetry books were rare in the local Malaysian market. Reading wasn't a widespread habit then, and it's still not common, with the demand for poetry books nearly nonexistent. However, times are changing. In the past five years, I've noticed more poets getting published and a growing interest in poetry. Many of these poets are young and still have rose-colored glasses about life. And their writings often reflect a youthful, idealistic view of the world. While there's nothing wrong with this - since there's a market for such poetry - I find myself yearning for deeper, more profound work from seasoned writers who have experienced more of life's complexities.

I'm a fan of Pablo Neruda, Mary Oliver, and Liew Suet Fun (a Malaysian poet), and I love their work. However, I still feel something is lacking, as if I couldn't truly relate to their writings. I yearn to read poetry about married love and its complexities, about the struggles of parenting, and about battling mental illness with full honesty. Perhaps some poets have written about such topics, and I simply haven't discovered them yet.

Indeed, there's a saying that goes, "If you can't find the book you love, then write it." While I'm not aspiring to write a book, I'm eager to create art that incorporates my poems about topics like married love, parenting struggles, and mental health. I like to call this fusion of poetry and art "poetry art." Despite my efforts to search online, I haven't come across any artists who have explored a similar concept yet. It seems like an exciting opportunity to embark on a unique artistic journey and be original.

In the past two years, I've created many artworks like these and shared them on my HIVE. However, this year, I aimed to create larger pieces than my usual A4 size drawings, with more detailed illustrations. As of now, I've completed two drawings in A3 size, and I hope they will someday be part of an art exhibition. After all, there's no harm in dreaming, right?

I'm sharing a series of four "poetry art" drawings that I recently created. Each drawing represents a section of a poem, divided into four parts. While the sentence structures might seem awkward - I'm not a native speaker -I don't mind, as this art serves as a form of self-expression for me.

I hope you enjoy it!

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That's it for now. If you read this far, thank you. I appreciate it so much! Kindly give me a follow if you like my content. I mostly write about making art, life musing, and our mundane yet charming family life here in Klang Valley, Malaysia.

Note: All images used belong to me unless stated otherwise.

Thank you for visiting and reading my post. I hope you like it!

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