JALEEL MACKEY POET

Artist Statement:

Why do I write? It’s a question I often contemplate. And frankly, the answer is fairly simple. I write to make sense of my reality, and I write because I’m compelled. Here’s what I mean:

Poetry is my attempt at taming the entropy of this existence. It forces my senses to slow down long enough to find the thread of the moment so I might weave together a tapestry of now to be preserved for my enjoyment and the enjoyment of others.

I write because I believe in the power of storytelling. I believe stories shape our reality. I believe stories have the power to heal, to awaken, to empower, to free - they are what bring us together, and they have the power to tear us apart. Both of these truths exist simultaneously.

So I write because I feel compelled to add a tone of compassion to the overall narrative in today’s world. I write because I believe I must - to untangle the web of global heartbreak so that we might find the dew of truth suspended by a thread of hope.

“What truth” you ask?

This fundamental truth: we have more in common than we have differences.

We breathe the same air as those we may fear. We breathe the same air as those we may hate. So what divides us is the story we tell ourselves about the other, about the unknown. And the antidote to fear is curiosity with a splash of compassion. So here I am, showing my scars and the lessons embedded in their ridges so that I might inspire you to consider our sameness, our common denominator.

And here I am attempting to eff the ineffability of our existence so that we may find ourselves more curious than fearful, more open than closed off, more awestruck than disenchanted.

My poetry is a love letter to life, and not the romantic comedy type of love letter (although that occasionally finds its way into my poems through the line breaks), but a love letter that’s imbued with the feeling of a life well loved. One that pulls no punches and smiles at you through a bloody nose and chipped tooth.