“poetry”
Steaks of white
in the shape of rainbows
there’s no butterflies
but who knows
maybe I just haven’t realized
they’re closer than they appear.
-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson
poetry space
Down the dark halls
with not one door locked
but many off limits
until just the right time,
I look for something familiar.
I don’t need to know what just yet but
when I find it, I’ll know.
-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson
Finish the Book
“Can anyone see the world exactly as you do?”
These books won’t write themselves. For a long time, I figured meh someone else can finish my work. Until I actually finished my first novel. I realized it was me and only me who could do the job seamlessly and with my life experience. This isn’t about being the greatest writer in the world. This is about expressing yourself through your lens and I guess the next question would be, can anyone see the world exactly as you do?
We are here doing our damnedest to thrive in uncertainty. No one knows when their number is up. No one knows when their loved one’s is either. We occupy this space between life and death, and no one really knows. We need water, earth’s filled with it. We need food, and coincidently or not the world’s filled with that too. And so, all this other fluff is all interesting little games we get to decide which ones we are interested in taking part in. The sad part is some people are born into terrible life experiences. Heartbreaking really. My only hope is that they find some sense of peace in this life.
If you have the privilege to choose the life that suits you, relish in it. Finish your novel. Make your life your art. Give back to those who are less fortunate and let your light shine so the world can see that it’s possible. Do it to remind yourself it’s possible. Do it for the little you who needed someone like you. Do it for the future that might just need that perfect reminder. The one you already have written.
-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson
Path
Illuminate the Unknown
“This article was inspired by a Georgia O’ Keeffe”
“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” -Georgia O’Keeffe
I like this quote from Georgia O’Keeffe because it reminds me that we define our own success. If we as writers allow the world to define our success, then we allow the world to define who we are as artists. One thing I believe is that your life is your art so when you create your own idea of success, that’s you painting on your own canvas.
The second part of this quote is a little deeper. Making your unknown known is an undertaken. I often forget how much I didn’t know before I started writing. I do remember reading everything. I do remember how hard I was on myself. And to this day I know the complexities that come with deciding to be the kind of writer that’s called a novelist. I didn’t know when I started that’s what I wanted to be. I had to try it all. I didn’t know then, but I know now.
This can also be taken in a more psychological Jungian way. It reminds me of the idea of being your shadow to light. Diving into your subconscious and digging out all the little beliefs that molded you that were never true. Sometimes we hold onto beliefs because they kept us safe, some of it is social programing, and some of it is simply a misunderstanding. We as artists get to go headfirst with a flashlight and dig out all the juicy details of ourselves. It’s no easy task but the art is authentic because it’s a depiction of what makes you, you.
My Life
“A few words”
A steamy cup of tea
below the tip of my nose.
The world falls away
same as sound does in the snow
I like this life I made
-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson
Don’t Quit
“Writing is something you can pick up for a lifetime.”
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.” -Albert Einstein
Writing can feel like a lot of pressure. That’s why it’s important to remind yourself that you’re enough. The fact that you can create stories from your imagination and bring them to life is magic.
There was a time in my life where I convinced myself I wasn’t cut out for this writer’s life, but the writing wasn’t something I could just put down. Quitting wasn’t an option and now I have a published novel that I’m proud of and more plans for it coming. I’m excited about it and I’m excited for my future as a novelist. I’m glad I didn’t quit.
My hope for this post is that you keep writing against all odds.
-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson
Living Art
“A poem”
Tiptoe to the place your heart comes alive.
Close your eyes and feel the way nature
breathes against your cheek.
Inside the minds of writers
is where the future lies.
Flip the pages,
teleport through the sky,
find me somewhere in between.
-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson
I Am Human
“Why do writers write? Why do you write?”
“Writers write to influence their readers, their preachers, their auditors, but always, at bottom, to be more themselves.” -Aldous Huxley
Writing to be more ourselves is an act of rebellion in a world that is begging us to be something more comfortable for them. More quiet. More docile. More conformed. We can write to take up space, to hear our voice, to fight the bad guys, and to embrace our weird little quirks.
I just want my own emotions to be welcomed. I want to get my feelings hurt and not be shamed for having feelings and desiring support. I want to desire freedom and revel in my little bubbles of it. I want to dream big dreams and spend time reaching them in a way that works for me. And this is where I’ve found myself in writing. I found that I don’t have to be a machine for someone else to live a beautiful life.
I get to choose what makes my life beautiful too. This is literally my story.
And so now I’ll only sit at the tables where all of me welcomed.
-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson
Don’t Look Down, Look Up
|A poem about things being better than when they started.”
I dived head first
into a world that
peeled back every layer of skin
to reveal the bone deep clattering
I wrote my way to the surface
thinking I’d have to dive again.
I didn’t.
-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson
