Position(s): Michigan in Color Senior Editor (2023), Assistant Editor (Fall 2022), Michigan in Color Columnist (2022)
Section(s): Michigan in Color
Semesters at The Daily: 5
The young woman who began at the University of Michigan in 2020
is vastly different from the woman leaving soon in 2024.
A major part of that change can be attributed to Michigan in Color.
Because being a part of this community
is the kind of brave that I promised myself I could be.
When I first began college,
I didn’t consider myself a writer
even though my every thought spilled onto paper in stanza.
The title “poet” just seemed too heavy a crown for me.
So instead, anytime I shared my work,
I began with the phrase,
“My name is Sarah and I’m not a poet but I do write poetry.”
In fact, the very first piece I published with MiC ended with a very similar notion.
“I am from constantly writing poems but never calling myself a poet.”
I think a part of me was afraid
that if I were to attach myself to the categorization of “poet,”
soon enough people would see right through me.
They would realize that poet must just be synonym
for the girl who cried wolf.
That poet must just be synonym
for the girl who tries to write her pain away and ends up with just another poem,
allowing her to bleed on stage so that others may applaud and tell her that she is strong.
They would realize that poet must just be synonym
for the girl who really has no idea what she’s doing
so she hides behind metaphor and prose,
never truly allowing anyone to see her beyond the curtain of Oz that she chose.
Or maybe my true fear lay in the idea
that if I were to claim “poet”
I would soon enough be a disappointment.
That soon enough readers and listeners
would grow tired of my cadence or my sound.
And I would go from “poet”
to just another girl who wrote poetry.
So I chose to just leave it all alone;
labels weren’t my thing I suppose.
But the thing about callings
is that you’re not allowed to put your heart on “do not disturb.”
The thing about purpose
is that your calling will come to pass regardless of if you’re told in advance.
So I’m ever so grateful for the community
that I have received in Michigan in Color.
They have knighted me with the title of poet
even though I don’t quite feel ready.
They have emboldened me to commit that from now on,
“My name is Sarah and I just might be a poet.”
Because this is the kind of brave that I promised myself I could be.