Introduction - How I got into Writing

What’s going on everyone? (voice echoes into the void)

I know, I know. It’s a little early to start addressing much of a following when the site has only been up for less than a week. However, I want to make sure I am staying consistent with my commitment to writing, and blogging is a great way to stay in tip-top writing shape.

In my previous post, I wanted to outline some of my goals and to provide a purpose/vision to this site. However, be warned, I anticipate this being a very loose outline of what happens on this site. This is because - for once - I am trying to take action and adapt, rather than remain in my decades long paralysis by analysis.

In this post, I would like to take it a step further and give myself a more comprehensive personal introduction. I want this to be a place where I can really connect with people as my true self. As such, it becomes instrumental for me to put more details out there about who it is that is that curates the content on this blog (if the site name “Jeff Barry” Poetry wasn’t clear enough.)

So to give you the semi-quick rundown of how I got into writing:

I was born in Las Vegas, NV as an only child to a very supportive set of parents. Both of them are teachers. My mother, specifically, was a reading improvement specialist. During my childhood, my parents were almost always in the living room reading. They read to me regularly and had me reading at a high level by the time I exited kindergarten. By the time I was six, I experienced my first panic attack. I also navigated ADHD without medication throughout my childhood and later on, I had more run-ins with depression. While going through all of these things, I was introduced to art therapy and poetry started as a way for me to cope with the existential anxiety and adjoining/comorbid depression. Poetry become the emotional spile that my therapist could rely upon to express what felt ineffable. In many ways, it was my lifeline. I found the whole creative process to be intoxicating and cathartic and poetry gave my ADHD an opportunity to shine. I started snatching verbal souvenirs from all of my daydreams and invasive thoughts. I started writing them down, at first in a moleskine notebook and then later, in Microsoft OneNote. From there, I started organizing my thoughts by topic and compartmentalizing them. Each poem was a way to gain new perspectives and subsequently reorganize my brain in a healthy way. It was, and still is, the most edifying act of sublimation I have experienced. For that reason, I believe that poetry is worth promoting and sharing with the world. And that is the reason that I have created this site. I want to celebrate other poets, I want to study, I want to read and connect. I want to WRITE. And I want you all to take the ride with me.

Now lets go.