Who's that Poet?

Get to know Alyssa Silvester

First things first, please introduce yourself and share some fun facts:

I am a Type A Midwesterner who cares for her people through home cooked meals and words of affirmation. I live in Hoover, Alabama—a born Michigander turned Washingtonian turned Southerner through my family’s journey in military medicine—with my husband, young children (son and daughter 20 months apart), and two cats. I love a good spreadsheet, seasonal decorations and foods, great books, and my Peloton streak.

How long have you been writing poetry and what made you start?

My mom recently uncovered my first book of poetry from elementary school -- a scrapbook full of poems written on lined notebook paper about riding the bus, my cats, and the sky. My fifth grade teacher turned our classroom into a poetry slam after a language arts unit on poetry. The darkened room, snaps after reading my work aloud from classmates, and my teacher's encouragement propelled me to keep writing.

I loved the way I could turn my everyday experiences and ponderings into art.

I continued writing in middle school and high school, and a creative writing class I took for fun my senior year of college was one of my favorite classes in undergrad.

When I started technical writing for work after college, I mostly stopped writing for myself. However, after I become a mom in 2019 I had so many new experiences and parts of my identity and needed to process it all! I joined Exhale, took a poetry workshop, and haven't looked back.

What is your writing process like?

I try to stay awake and alert in my life. I look for the way light illuminates my playroom in late afternoon, the sound of my children's laughter bouncing around my home, the way daffodils are the first to risk growth in Spring. I try to stay curious, be an explorer in the mundane parts of life. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it's really hard.

I'll get an idea from a sound, sight, phrase. I'll write it down in my journal or in my notes app. Most of the time ideas come while I'm driving, and I try to repeat it until I can stop and write it down! When it's time to write a poem, I'll look through my notes app ideas. Sometimes I write a poem in my journal, but most of the time it's on my computer.

I write in the morning before my kids are up, in small chunks of time while my kids are at school, or after my kids go to bed. I don't have a specific routine or time I always write. After I write a poem, I let it rest for a couple days before returning to edit and share with the fellow Part-Time Poets for feedback.

How do you make or find time to write?

I carve out slivers of time to write. Sometimes this is in the morning before my kids are up. Sometimes it's while they're at school. Sometimes it's in the carpool line. Sometimes it's after the kids are in bed. Sometimes my husband will shoo me out the door after dinner and encourage me to go write. I rarely have an entire poem or essay in my head but begin with a phrase or image or theme and go from there.

How does being a mother impact your poetry?

I wouldn't have started writing again if I had not become a mother. It has opened up a whole new experience for me.

Writing again has felt like coming home to myself, rebirthing who I've always been and pursuing that again. I didn't want to get lost in caring for my family, and writing has been an avenue for that. I love that writing is something for me and has nothing to do with my role as mom, even though so much of my writing is about being a mom.

Do you have any other creative pursuits? How do they relate to or enhance your poetry?

In addition to writing poetry, I write non-fiction essays. Poetry has helped make my essays more descriptive, paint scenes and imagery, and be more concise. Outside writing, I enjoy baking, cooking, and decorating my home. I also love organizing groups of women -- book club, church groups, neighborhood play groups.

Writing has opened my eyes to what "counts" as creativity, and it has been fun to explore the world as a creative and see myself as a creative -- trying watercolors, arranging flowers, hosting gatherings, bringing friends together.

Poetry and creative pursuits make life more colorful!