Today we’d like to introduce you to Krystal The Poet.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started writing poetry at 11 years old. I was a finalist in a poetry contest, and was invited to fly to Los Angeles and perform my poem in front of judges and an audience to complete the competition. Sadly I was not allowed to go and was told that poetry and writing was a waste of time and not worth anything. After this, I didn’t enter another contest for several years. In fact, I threw away most of my poems because I believed it was a silly little hobby.
The first poem I ever wrote was about peace and kindness to save the world and the second poem was a complicated love story that ended in tragedy influenced by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Then I started moving into Hall mark cards type of poetry in high school. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I began to get into the deeper layers of poetry.
I took a Poetry class in my University and was ridiculed for poems about God and faith. At the time guns, violence, drugs, s*x and defiance were a more popular accepted subject. God was not the only thing I wrote about but I was not afraid to express my faith in God. I went on to write for a ministry called Preach N’ Sing Ministry both poetry and lead of their blog that’s primary goal was to uplift, encourage and inspire others. There were artists who worked with Preach N Sing Ministry who sang some of my poems on an album to encourage others.
My voice was silenced for many years after being in a severely abusive relationship. I stopped writing for a long time. I had a severe case of writers block. After leaving him and recovering, I slowly started writing again. And I entered an online poetry contest with my poem called “Battered woman emerged” and won the contest in 1st place. This encouraged me to keep writing.
I was a young mother of 4 beautiful children and my life has been consumed with the single mother life and family health tragedies/conditions. So I put poetry on the side but still continued to write and never gave up.
I have written and inspired others on many subjects, including love, romance, heartbreak, women empowerment, and social justice and faith. Sharing and writing about our stories isn’t easy but it’s worth it knowing that my poetry has helped others through tough times such as Domestic Violence victims and Suicide.
I always say if one person is saved from all my life’s sufferings then it was all worth it.
As a writer, the most important thing that changed was getting to a space where I stop throwing away my work and actually save, share more intently and see value in poetry. Believing in myself and my work as a writer and overcoming the voices that said writing and poetry was not worth anything and won’t get me anywhere.
Then For the past 6 years I was exposed to the Artists scene. Musicians, Poets. Singers, Rappers, Spoken Word Artists. I deeply admired and supported Artistry whenever I could. This took me to a different route and as of September 2024 I became a recording artist, when I released my first EP called “Sweet Nothings”. A romantic album devoted to Love. Then I started being invited to share spoken word at events. The stage and mixing my music and poetry is a new venture for me and I absolutely love it. Yet as long-time writer My heart is definitely on the page. So I’m working on my first book that will come out in 2025. I have many ideas and writings I am excited to share with the world one day soon.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The opposition in those closest to me against me writing and doing poetry. So lack of support.
The almost a decade of losing my voice because of severe domestic violence and the stress of protecting myself and my children.
Severe Health tragedies that struck my family for years. And Having to care for and overcome these.
Single mother life working, caring for house and kids. And The challenges of still making time for poetry in the midst of all that life has thrown at me.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am Krystal the Poet, also known as KTP, an emerging talent in the fusion of poetry and music. I am a writer, poet, aspiring author, and recording artist. Despite much opposition, my passion for poetry persisted, and now write across various themes including love, romance, heartbreak, empowerment, and social justice. Also, I have become an advocate for women, contributing my voice to meaningful projects such as domestic violence awareness.
And above all I love LOVE and believe in the freedom of expression, whether sexy and sensual, healing and heart break or spiritual and inspirational or other matters of the heart, expression runs deep from heart to heart and soul to soul. My debut spoken word album, “Sweet Nothings,” is just the beginning, with more creative endeavors on the horizon, including a forthcoming book. Inspired by poets like Maya Angelou and Shakespeare, My work blends beauty, romance, and strength. I’m known for love and romance but I write about many things. What sets me apart is I’m unique and have my own lane there isn’t many doing exactly what I do. I have so many ideas for future projects include long audiobooks.
I’ve been told I’ve been able to paint pictures with my words and I pull emotion. I’m most proud of first the impact I’ve made on others lives. And second is stepping out of my comfort zone and being a recording artist releasing my first album on Love/Romance allowing music and poetry to fall in love with each other.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I believe poets and spoken word performers will remain a constant staple art form in our industry… history has proven it has lasted centuries if you go back to Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson and Maya Angelou
Although, writing is heading towards AI, it lacks the empathy and emotional capacity that only real “souls” have. And that’s the innate ability to relate, identify, and project words with passion and compassion to tug on a reader/listener’s heartstrings and insert them into whatever verbal/lyrical portrait the “poet” is painting or projecting.
Audiobooks and e-books are big and unfortunately the physical paper books are not as popular which is why Audiobooks are the direction I am going, after my written book is published. Furthermore, in the 5-10 year future I hope to write Poetic Narratives that can turn into a movie.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.krystalthepoet.com
- Instagram: Krystal_thePoet
- Youtube: @krystalthepoet @ktp_poetry
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ktp_poetry?_t=ZT-8xPSUpDATGQ&_r=1
Image Credits
Brian Rodriguez
