It’s been a goal of mine to do more things that scare me. While I certainly won’t be jumping off the Twin Falls bridge anytime soon, I still look for opportunities I can take part in that I know will challenge me and help me grow. For example, this past Saturday I set up a booth at our local pride called The Traveling Bard.

A few months ago, I heard vendor booths were going to be available, and I thought it would be a cool idea to sell handmade journals. But then, I started following this rad poet on Instagram @claracarusa. On top of sharing her work and the work of well-known poets, she posts reels of herself hustling out in the streets in Madrid writing improvised poems for passersby. I thought I could do something similar.

I won’t lie. I was very scared and nervous at first. That being said, doing this was probably one of the most exciting experiences of my life. I got to just talk to people, hear about their lives, and write poems for them. It was beyond incredible.

Some highlights:

• I wrote a poem for this woman who was doing amazing work with her non-profit organization that helps shelter indigenous women. She lost her daughter to cancer and another close family member to an act of violence. I felt so privileged that she shared her story with me.
• I wrote another poem for a girl who was around 8 or 9 years old. She was obsessed with ghost hunting and scary movies. Her favorite scary movie, I kid you not, was Terrifier. For a nine year old to say that is her favorite scary movie is a little concerning and also incredibly impressive.
• I also got to trade work for work with an incredible queer artist. He gave me two of his drawings he turned into stickers in exchange for a poem. He told me about his experience growing up queer in a traditional Latino and catholic household and how he used his art as a kind of escape. It was something I deeply related to.

In the end, I sold a lot more poems than I did journals. Which was great, but makes me wish I didn’t stress so much about making them. (I literally bled for them. My poor little finger.)

Over all, it was such a fun experience, and I look forward to doing it again. On Thursday, I plan on posting the poems I wrote for people. So, hopefully you’ll get to see them then.