My newest project is a poetry book called Encore. Originally, it was far shorter, but as projects sometimes do, it devoured a section from other another book and here we are. This book is the most political one I’ve ever written. I feel as though I’ve spent a lot of the last few years trying not to offend anyone and keep my opinions vague for fear of starting an argument.

For this book, I threw all of that out of the window. Part of the poems are me struggling to find my voice and use it in a way that actually matters. There have been entirely too many times where I have felt powerless, but penning this book has helped me see that I have something to say and the power to say it.

It’s been incredible therapeutic to put these words onto a page and stop censoring myself from my own feelings.