Perhaps poetry’s most valuable purpose has to do with the role it plays in throwing open a door to the mind, to the mind of the poet that is, unearthing thoughts which, otherwise, would probably remain entomb-ed forever in minds that care little for this remarkable discipline. Poetry is a means of stripping oneself of what, sometimes, are our deepest, most intimate secrets, parading them to the world, not just to say things about ourselves but to seek to measure the effect of the messages that they bring to those who read them.
It is much the same with Carlene Gill-Kerr. Her poems embrace the virtues of frankness and honesty, whether it be in the unrestrained joy of the ‘falling in love’ feeling expressed in “He came After Me” or in the searching and sometimes seemingly unanswered question she raises in, “Is Africa My Mother?”
Gill-Kerr says she ‘cut her teeth’ on “The Arts,” embarking on her journey into creative writing at the age of eight and, at Queens College, pushed “to keep her creative juices flowing.” It was this that led her to writing and directing her first play, “He still Loves Me” and claiming the Second Prize in the 2017 Poetry Slam competition.