I write to deepen my knowledge of self.
Writing first began for me with a poem that did not rhyme. I created a very long metaphor about life being like a mountain and all the ways climbing a mountain and living this life are parallel. It was simple, but it opened up something for me. As I continued to write, I began to dig deeper and to expand on my own thoughts, all in a safe space. That is what the page became for me, a safe space to unravel.
These are the words I could never hold. The ones that seep out and pour over. I could not begin to hold them down. They rose from my soul like a howl to the moon as the dusk of this life surrounded it.
First they grew deep, then they overcame me, not to be contained.
“Contained”. Taylor Sykes-Green. March 2022
Once I got into high school, I came to the page because I had to… there was no other place that these pieces of myself could exist and come together. There were things sitting in my spirit that needed to be given light. As I transitioned to college, I found a beauty in the story my individual writings could create, and began journalling more intentionally, every week. My hope was to release. It can be said this is where I truly transitioned from writing for creative release, more of play, to self-exploration. But, you can also make the argument that play is where we truly find ourselves anyhow – so, I was always searching before I knew I was.
So, my earliest writing simply evolved from me. Once I found writing, there were simply things I had to write.
Where I am now is understanding that some portion of me lives on the page.
There are parts of me that only exist in the written word. They can only live within these pages. Here, they breathe, they grow, they stand for all time.
“In These Pages”. Taylor Sykes-Green. March 2022
So, then and now, I write to deepen my knowledge of self. I write to let a version of myself free, a version that could never see life without this word put to page.
Taylor Ruby's 