Writing Poetry Led Me to Copywriting

Tyfany Williams is an embodiment of Christoph’s favorite saying, “poets are so much more than their poems.” She’s transformed her love of poetry into a blooming cherry blossom marketing career. She’s been writing poetry since she was nine years old, where she would sneak words on napkins if a notebook wasn’t near. It’s not always that easy now, but she tells us, “when juices are flowing, they’re flowing.”

For her, writing was natural. Writing was her constant, her friend, one that helped her to channel her anger about her parent’s separation, frustration at many moves, and cultural differences in a diverse school environment. Her writing was primarily introspective, probing poetry.

Tyfany’s an observer, an empath, a writer. When she went to college, she studied journalism because she knew she had a gift and wanted to make a career from it. As she puts it, “If you have a gift words, you need to figure out how to use it.”

For her, writing is still part of her routine like brushing her teeth, eating lunch, and taking out the trash. She tells us, “This is the first thing I wake up thinking about doing, the last thing I want to do before bed.” It’s a reflex, a rhythm, a necessity. As she puts it, “Whatever you wake up and think about first thing in the morning, that’s what you’re supposed to be.” 

She founded “Own Your Mark Media” in December 2018. She decided to utilize her gifts with words to help small business owners and entrepreneurs with copywriting. For her, it’s a kind of poetry, a transfer of energy. She says, “I’m excited because they’re excited.” Copywriting is coming up with a call to action, something that makes readers want to see more. She gives people a plan and now she’s doing the same for the Poet Life, helping to create copywriting for the first annual Poet Life Festival July 24th.

Tyfany leaves us with some advice. A lot of poets don’t realize they are their brand and every platform is not for every brand. You’ll get burnt out fast if you try to manage every page; instead, pick one or two social media channels to post on consistently. It’s better to manage one or two platforms very well, then to have content on every platform. 

Ultimately, she tells us to invest in ourselves, our art, and she leads by example. For more from her, check out the Poet Life Podcast on your favorite platform. 

I’m My Only Competition in Poetry

Red Lion Poetry shares his passion for diversifying poetry in this episode. For him, “Poetry is a sword. Poetry is a first aid kit. Poetry is batman’s utility belt.” Poetry is a versatile pocket knife he’s regularly accessing to meet the needs of the communities he resides in. He tells us how he overcame dyslexia to write and continue writing about as much as he can to stay relevant and flexible in the vast market. He tells us, “If it needs hope and I can speak to it, I will.”

His name is as strong as his drive. Inspired by a vision he had of a lion burning red fire, he named himself after the spiritual encounter, embodying a quote he cites from Slangston Hughes, “Didn’t you know people are the greatest poems?” 

For him, writer’s block is a non-issue, because there are always things to write about, even if he doesn’t know how to write it yet. He explains that there’s never a shortage of content to provide, but sometimes it takes time to move from second base to third and eventually home.

The most powerful moment for me was when he talked about poetry as a mirror. He tells us, “A mirror is useless until you stand in front of it. A mirror doesn’t have an identity, you give it an identity. You give a mirror identity because you hold an identity...poetry is powerful because you make it that way”

His vision for his poetic future opens to a park or seven layer studio where young people can explore various genres of art, learning to appreciate it and craft it in their youths. He regrets not learning it sooner and wants to inspire the younger generations to find the value he finds in it now. 

If you’re looking for passion, music, and more of his story, listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast app.

Red Lion Poetry (aka Charles Patton) is a spoken word artist that inspires hope. You can find him on FB and IG @RedLionPoetry.

Knowing There is No Box in Poetry

Cubs the Poet is a one-of-kind poetry visionary. In this interview, Cubs tells Christoph about a billboard he’s painting in between putting his children to bed and discussing poetry on this episode. The challenges of balancing his parental responsibilities and his art don’t stop him from pursuing it because for him, poetry isn’t just a poem, it’s a process. Thinking about poetry in terms of how it can add value to others and earn him money keeps him focused on the journey. 

And of course, like every poet, he attempted to pay the bills with other things first. He tried rapping because there was money in it, but it didn’t feel right. Since then, he’s learned to earn money in innovative ways that felt more genuine. For months, he sat with a typewriter in the French Quarter of New Orleans taking donations for poems. Then, he wrote poems at weddings, capturing the day in a handbound book that he offered like a gift to the bride and groom. He’s now writing room service poems at local hotels to help change the mood and experience of hotel customers. He’s essentially a customer service representative. 

 It’s easy to say Cubs the Poet blends the poetry community and the poetry industry. He says, “It’s all about mindset, small town versus big city,” but he somehow embodies both in a non-suburban way. His poetry journey is full of tangible energy. He explains that “the biggest problem with poetry taught in schools is that we never meet these poets.” For him, poetry is a continuous lived experience, not merely a one-note poem. It’s a unifying, community-building act that breathes and grows with the poet. The poet is part of the experience.

When asked why poets are hesitant to ask for money when other artists are easily compensated, he explains “the mysticism of poetry” resists monetizing in some ways. The process feels to non-poets like a magic that defies the normal procedures of quantifying value. There’s not a set time it takes to achieve a poem, or a set length, or a depth.  

He believes some poets stay poor or work a 9-5 because it helps them relate to others. He mentions that rich people can be disconnected from the general experience and he was as nervous about success as he was about failure. He wanted to make sure he was writing the same poem for 50 cents as he was for $100,000 which is why he started asking for only donations.

But when “the what-ifs” started piling up, he asked for what he wanted. He tells us that imagination is what limits us. A lot of people don’t have a vision and without a vision, can’t move forward fully. He embodies the value he sees in poetry presidentially, leading us to a new poetic constitution where community and industry can sit happily at the same table, enjoying their wine together.

To hear more of his story in his own words, check out the podcast from your favorite app.

Cubs the Poet is a modern day wordsmith and community builder. He began his career as a poet on a street corner in Frederick, Maryland asking passersby the simple question, “do you like poetry?” In the years since, he has traveled across the country and around the world writing poetry and showing that his own answer to this question is very much, yes.

In 2019, Cubs was named Poet Laureate of his hometown Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has hosted a TedTalk and taught several seminars on the importance of spontaneity in poetry, expression and communication. Cubs has worked on brand strategy for companies such as Aveda, Southern Comfort and GoDaddy. By far, his greatest passion is creating custom poetry for people. He believes that everyone is a poem and seeks to commemorate that for as many people as possible. His work is spontaneous; he asks you to provide a theme and a few relative terms and will then craft a poem based on your conversation, using a typewriter. What results is often revealing, sometimes surprising and always unpredictable; the poetic version of jazz improv.

Currently based in New Orleans, Cubs started off the new year with a residency at The Columns Hotel. Which involves creating custom books of poetry, developing his recent portrait painting endeavor and riding scooters with his daughter Soule Monroe Davenport.

Excelling in Poetry Despite Limited Resources in Nigeria

Since the pandemic started, we’ve all become more dependent on the internet and the connections we’ve made there. And we’ve all become acutely aware of the limitations of the internet and the profound effects of slow speeds. But the technological difficulties felt in places like my town in suburban Pennsylvania are nothing like the ones T.S. Piriye endures daily.

This episode Christoph welcomes T.S. Piriye to the show via WhatsApp. Piriye shares the daily struggles of being a poet in a city where internet is hard to come by. To post online, he needs to get up at 5 am - 6 am so the servers aren’t overwhelmed. He’s welcomed to the stage in church, where poetry is valued as a religious experience rather than a recreational activity. Part of his biggest challenge, he explains, is showing people poetry’s value for their lives. He believes that with access to better equipment, he’d be able to produce more work and demonstrate its value more clearly to his community, which is rich with a small group of poets trying to make a change. The love of poetry, Piriye tells us, motivates him to persevere despite the roadblocks in his way.

To grow the poetry community and his reach, we wanted to give you an opportunity to help him out. Here are his needs and the cost: 

1) Photo Shoot / Advertisement= $37.99

2) Hiring of cameraman= $12.23

3) Lights = $6.12

4) Logistics= $12.23

5) Gate fee for location= $6.12

6) Laptop for better communication= $146.78

7) Voice recording = $24.46

8) Mifi for better internet= $24.46

9) 2 dozen one color T shirt and printing= $288.71

10) Payment for the Video Director= $48.93

Total =$594.50

If you want to make a difference for this poet and his town, please consider donating to Piriye through the PoetLife Cash App = @$ThePoetLife—just specify in the subject that this is a donation to Piriye.  Every dollar you give gets their community closer to their goal of advancing their poetry community. For more about his story, listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast app.

T.S. Piriye is a poet, spoken word artist, and event planner in Rivers State, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Follow him on IG for more about his story and poetry: @ts_piriye

Parents Supporting a Teen’s Career In The Arts

It can be rare to hear of parents wholeheartedly supporting their children in their artistic pursuits. It’s just not common. It’s a movie trope for a reason. Dead Poets Society, anyone?

But we’ve met a couple that will forever be their son’s biggest fans, no matter where his career goes. Jason and Stacey Timothy are the parents to Prxphecy, and this young creator is going places with their full support.

What does it look like to have parents fully backing their teenager’s artistic career? Let’s find out.

Giving your teenager the space they need to be creative

It starts with allowing someone the freedom to be who they are and do what they’re interested in.

They say they don’t question his passions and, instead, they embrace it. They give him the space he needs to do what he’s interested in, and they’re there if he needs support. 

They also reiterate what we all can probably agree on: education comes first. But it’s hard to argue with his pursuits when he’s walking around with a consistent 4.0 GPA.

It’s made even easier for them because their teenager is a bit beyond his years.

Stacey says she’s amazed at his maturity and dedication to his passions at 17 years old. She says, “I can’t say I was passionate about anything [at 17]. I just wanted to graduate from high school.” She says:

“We have moments where he’s a typical teenager, but when it comes to Prxphecy, I’m in awe of the fact that he’s 17.”

Jason agrees, “If there’s any area that I think he’s beyond his age, it would be in his level of courage.” He continues on saying that most teenagers are still trying to figure out what they’re willing to be courageous for, and Prxphecy has figured it out.”

What is it that he wants to do?

Well, Prxphecy wants to be an enterprise, like Jay Z, and with his many creative outlets and a support system behind him, he’s set up to make that happen for himself.

What does the space to pursue look like?

Other than the obvious funding of all he needed, Jason and Stacey’s support came in many other ways.

Prxphecy explains:

“They’ve been here with me since day one and everything I’ve tried to pursue. They’ve been right behind me. As long as they knew I had a plan, and that I was passionate about it, they were all for it. Even things I didn’t want to do that they knew I probably should or had to do. Sometimes it was rocky, but they break things down to help me understand why they feel I should do it and where it’s going to get me.”

He goes on to say that his parents always had him in something, like summer camps. 

He says, “They didn’t really let me just not use my brain or my talent for long periods of time.”

From the parents perspective, Stacy said it was always evident that he wasn’t going to be a sports person.

She says, “He was into reading books and has always been an avid reader. When he picked up the saxophone in sixth grade and it came to him naturally, we were all on board. I was a big proponent of him being involved in something.”

That’s a huge piece of insight there.

For Jason and Stacey, it was crucial for Prxphecy to be involved in something. Anything. And when they saw what it was that was drawing him in, they didn’t challenge it. They let him follow his interests, as long as he was involved in something.

Parental advice for us all

Let’s end this some parental advice that we could all use.

Jason says,:

“The goal requires a lengthy journey, and along the way, you’re certainly going to be faced with disappointment. Expect the disappointments, but you’ve got to have the grit to keep pushing. Sooner or later you’re going to find the thing you’re looking for. Be prepared for the long walk, overcome the obstacles through grit, and know that the goal is attainable.”

Stacy says:

“You’re going to hear no at points you thought were a definite yes. Allow yourself the moment to be sad, but don’t let it throw you off course. Stay focused.”

And as a final thought, Stacy shared:

“At the end of the day, [Prxphecy] knows that we’re his number one fans. If he doesn’t have 500 or 5,000, he’ll always have at least two followers. At times, that’s going to have to be enough. That’s all he needs to pick himself up and keep going on. We’ll always be there for him.”

Be sure to listen to or watch the full episode to get even more insight into the development and strategy behind Prxphecy.

Prxphecy is a poet, saxophonist, hip hop artist, writer, speaker, and activist. While he’s only been “Prxphecy” since he was 17, he’s been an entrepreneur and creative his whole life. Follow Prxphecy on Instagram and TikTok (@the_real_prxphecy), Twitter (@real_prxphecy), and Facebook (@prxphecy). And check out more of what he’s been up to at linktr.ee/Prxphecy.