Positivity ensues as creativity is reignited and passed down through generations for Kansas City writer.
In the early years of our lives, the world seems to be wide open to us. The seeds of our dreams are planted into the tilled soil provided by education, culture, and location. What is surprising is that our blooming season does not come with a designated time that we can pinpoint. Insecurities sneak in alongside the forgetfulness that comes when our practice of talent is laid aside. We shift and reshape ourselves based on the present circumstances, floating by, not even realizing that the time of purpose creeps upon us each day. Our inevitable push back into our alignment comes in many forms. Poet and Blogger, Tiffanie Roberson shares how her light found its way back to her, as she pours that gratefulness back into us through her work.
Creativity through writing became clear for the Kansas City native during her attendance of Paseo Academy of Performing Arts High School. She witnessed many students stick with their chosen major and persevere in their talents afterwards. For Roberson, this was not the route she had taken to her success an artist. After high school she switched gears and made the decision to obtain her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She also highlights here that this proud moment was amplified by her being pregnant at her graduation. She admits that self-doubt and life changes added some time and detours to the career path she finds herself on now.
With the priorities changing vastly with her family and life’s many other challenges, her writing days had become a thing of a distant past. This was until about 3 years ago when a miraculous revitalization of her talent came from her daughter’s curiosity. Her daughter had one day stumbled over one of Roberson’s old writing folders that she thought she had tucked away. Having a similar creative mind, her daughter suggested that she write a spoken word dance poem.
“So much time had passed, and I thought, ‘what’s the point now’. This was a spark of a moment”, she reminisced. Through the encouragement and unique partnership from her daughter, she decided to jump back into her love of writing. Roberson shared her custom piece, “My Magic” as spoken word during her daughter’s dance solo in a performance competition in Omaha, Nebraska. “The piece was one of inspiration and encouragement for a young black girl to do anything she puts her mind to and let nothing hold her back”, she stated intently. The collaboration won her daughter 1st place in that competition while also reigniting Roberson’s poetic flame.
From there, she began consciously nurturing her talent back to life which included the creation of her personal blog that has grown into its own light within the past year. The online platform, Tiffanie Talks, shares insightful posts regarding everyday life, faith, passion and purpose from the perspective of the observant writer. In a piece written at the beginning of this year, Roberson’s words bring on a sense of foreshadowing to the rest of 2020. “We are imperfect people living in an imperfect world and crappy things happen, but when they do, how do you stand?” It is with that same type of reflections and observations that Roberson conveys through her teaching/homeschooling, showcasing her ability to organize, structure and execute.
Roberson’s leap of faith has brought her to writing and publishing her first book of poetry, Shattered Pieces”. The work encompasses a vision on giving and receiving love, in an intentional and magnificent lightness. Some of the most stirring poems include “State of Distraction” that covers the unwillingness to let go of dead weight of unforgiving love, A simplistically direct Haiku poem titled “Pale Rain” experimenting with different poem styles. Also “This Thing” which unexpectedly felt like a personal attack on my own love life, in the last stanza specifically. So much gratefulness displayed through warming love and trying lessons is infused into those pages. Funny enough, what I found most intriguing was the intentions Roberson presented in the very first poem of the book:
Awakening Poem “Feelings, harmless and sad Grief within the inner being Painting the script That releases the pressure. In future time Who I am may be known, But if I don’t get this talent out That lives within me My literature will die.” (Roberson, 10)
Tiffanie’s story is yet another important example of courage finding us not only when we feel like it was meant for us but for the audience that surrounds our aesthetic. What are we holding back from the world? What pieces of ourselves are meant to be shared and what is making us so insecure in releasing them? Are we not the creators that we so adamantly assert in our words and lives? Somewhere we forget that the essence of art is to share the elevated views we are blessed with so that others may be uplifted through their route of enlightening as well. Extremely thankful and proud to know writers and artists like Tiffanie, who continually push me and others during our time of need.
“With written expression people can find their voice. Writing has allowed me the opportunity to have my voice heard.” -Tiffanie Roberson
Join us next week for our upcoming artist review: Dr. Annalise Fonza
