Who Is The Stormy Poet?

I grew up very socially awkward. I’m really not sure as to why I was, but I just remember the majority of my preteen and teen years being filled with sweaty palms, short breath, and an increased heart rate any time I went somewhere or met anyone new for the first time. So, that meant I experienced a great deal of alone time, away from others in my room or the backyard–a lot of time to wonder, explore, observe, and question the wide world around us–which goes widely unnoticed much of the time.

On top of that, I was–and still am–ADHD, which meant I struggled throughout my school tenure to make passing grades. Being a kid who had this condition meant I had to be in the act of physically moving around–and still do–to think linearly and coherently. Sitting still, which is how we spend the majority of our educational journey, in class for long periods and successfully retaining information was an enormous struggle for me.

Therefore, I did poorly or, academically, through much of grade school. I felt like I was just born stupid, and seeing others more easily excel at the curriculum I was struggling with did a number on my self-esteem.

These combined factors made me a very withdrawn person.

However, even though I struggled in the traditional scholastic learning environment, different teachers, throughout my educational tenure, would regularly tell my mother about the glimpses of brilliance I would subtly display every so often. If there was something I was genuinely interested in, I would–almost obsessively–learn everything there was to learn about that topic, in and out.

For example, topics I became intensely interested in from ages 6-18: locomotive engines, aeronautics, military science, the World Wars (I was awake at 2 AM as 7-year-old watching war documentaries while everyone else was sleeping in the house), astronomy, rocket science, entomology, the Titanic, geology, dirigibles, zoology (just to name a few a the random topics I became fixated on back then).

This was before the age of Google. So, much of what I learned about these topics was from educational TV shows like Bill Nye, Battlefield, National Geographic, Nova, etc. Rather than being forced to learn about these topics by public academia, there were certain topics I became interested in on my own and that I actually wanted to explore on my own accord, without having to show up in a classroom at the butt crack of dawn to sit for hours-on-end doing needlessly tedious bookwork.

After some friendly advice from a 4th-grade teacher about how I could tap into that brilliance that peaked through from time to time, my mother did what I consider one of the best things she could have done to benefit my life for years to come. Quite simply, she took me to the Duncanville Public Library and let me loose. To this day, I thank her for doing that.

Not only was I able to submerge my mind in an ocean of information about the world around me, but my zest and passion for literature were also ignited. Locked up alone in my room, I soaked up as much history and wisdom as I could and, inadvertently, became fascinated with the English language–being that I was engaging with it so frequently.

What further kindled this adoration for the arts of language was my sister introducing me to Hip Hop at 13-years-old. The way that the rap artists masterfully bent, stacked, and wielded words with such precision, all while having no formal education on how to do so, was staggeringly astonishing to me.

I noticed the work of literary greats like Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allen Poe, Walt Whitman, and Shaw featured I was exposed to in high school and community college English Composition were equally matched in quality and skill by Hip Hop artists like Nas, Rakim, Big Pun, Jadakiss, Eminem, and Twista.

This inspired me to make my own attempts at composing literary art. I thought if these artists with no formal education were able to write like those who many consider the greatest writers of all time, what was stopping me?

I started off writing about things like nature, my friends, and my family members–like my father who lost his life to alcoholism.

The majority of my artwork functioned as a venting mechanism, and I kept most of it to myself. But, when one of my teenhood friends from the Mississippi coast wrote and published a book about his personal experience with Hurricane Katrina and when I saw how his story profoundly resonated with others.

His publishing of the book Piece of Shadows (which I still occasionally refer back to for inspiration to this day) taught me something very profound; you never know who needs to hear your story and why. So, don’t deprive them of it by not telling it.

Therefore, I decided to compose and share my own experiences of surviving Hurricane Katrina.

…and then the rest was history. Writing to me, the lavishly, liberating act of composition, I feel is both a gift and a duty appointed to me by God Himself.

Words have the power to heal, to uplift, to soothe, to do battle and cut, to crash, to save, and to love and listen–composed thoughts and ideas can alter the world and humanity for the better, and that’s what I feel what my inherent obligation is to mankind.

So, now that you’ve learned a great deal about my background, who is The Stormy Poet exactly? Well, much like a thunderhead, my mind is a vigorously swirling array of life knowledge of a colossally churning flow of a variety of subject matter, in which I use the power of literature to deliver it with lightning precision.

I am a servant to you all, the people, on behalf of The Almighty, and my servitude consists of me raining down and saturating those in my global community with empowerment via the language art arts, in whatever form it most constructively conveys a message of enlightenment, truth, love, and/or positivity.

Although growing up with ADHD and social anxiety were two immense hurdles to overcome, without them, I wouldn’t have the honor of being in the position of servitude my Creator has assigned to me. Without ADHD, I wouldn’t have had such a broad curiosity and interest in so many different subjects, and my longing for literature would have never been kindled. And, without social anxiety, I wouldn’t have spent so much time by myself to be still and consider the experiences of others.

My name is The Stormy Poet. I am the official author of the literary site The Eye Wall and of 3 published books (Product of the Storm, A Pale Face for a Collar: Testimonials of an Office Rat, and Code of Conduct Suggestion Guide for Dismantling Systemic Racism). And, I’m your humble servant, here to kindle your zest to explore the wild world of literature and to empower and to demonstrate to The People how the power of literature can be utilized to combat and eradicate injustice.

From the Soul,
The Stormy Poet

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