Edie Suarez

Who am I?
A poet wanna’ be
Okay, maybe I am a poet

Who am I?
Mother of three boys
Definitely a poet

Who am I?
Twenty-five years with the same company
Gotta’ be a poet

Who am I?
Recently separated after almost as many
Need to be a poet

Who am I?
Digital camera buff
A picture poet

Writing poetry has become a release for me. It’s a form of expression. When I write in one of my journals, my feelings seem to flow on the page. Sometimes, it’s a process of osmosis. I’ll have a conversation with someone and something they say, or the feelings they share, will transfer through me and the next thing I know, I’m writing a poem about it. Sometimes, it’s about my boys and the joy they bring me. And sometimes, I’ll write an essay, like the one I have posted about my Mom’s Afghan, but I prefer writing poetry – rhyming poetry – like Dr. Seuss’s rhyming poetry!

I didn’t always write. When I was in school, I used to hate to write. Funny how things change when we grow up (okay – get older). I started writing poetry in 2001. Since then, I’ve written well over 200 poems and I’ve managed to get at least thirty of them published in publications like The Buffalo News, Writer’s Journal, CIA – Citizen In America, Poems in the Waiting Room, the Western New York Children’s Chorus Newsletter and now at OurEcho.com.

After attending and then assisting with a series of writing workshops, I found I liked the atmosphere of getting together with other writers and hearing their works, as well as sharing mine. It seemed that a writer’s group needed to be formed in the area, so together with writer Lynne Wallace-Lee, we started two partner writers’ groups now called “Basics 2 Bylines – A WNY Writers’ Network,” and offered them at two locations in the area. Last year we went one step further, creating our own website, www.basics2bylines.org, where we hope to provide a network for writers, as well as offer some tips towards getting published. We also started up a Poetry Page, so if you’d like to contribute a poem or two I’d love to hear from you. In the meantime, I’d like to give you this poem to ponder:

Destiny's Impact

Does destiny control
Those things that you do
Or is life as you make it
Determined by you

You may make some choices
Like the clothes you have worn
But none can determine
Where or when they'll be born

If the things you know now
Were known to you then
Would you have decided the same
As you did way back when

If life had been different
If things had been changed
Would the people around you
Be the same or estranged

If the choices you made
Involved different decisions
Would the road that you live on
Include the same visions

If you had said no
When instead you said yes
Would your children still be here
We can't even guess

If your actions today
Impact your tomorrow
How do you know
Which ones won't bring you sorrow

Maybe you can't dictate
Every single event
As destiny's touch
Becomes evident

But, if you give of your best
And follow your heart
Then making decisions
Will help dictate your part

And there will always be things
That you can't control
But they can be influenced
By the touch of your soul

So, stay positive and focused
As you pick and you choose
Cutting down on the chances
Of becoming bad news

Story ID:	182
Written by:	OurEcho Admin (bio, link, contact, other stories)
Story type:	In The Spotlight
Location:	Buffalo NY USA
Year:	2006
Person:	Edie (Koch) Suarez