Alysia Harris
Poet, Writer, Teaching-Artist
Discussion
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Alysia Harris
@poppyinthewheat · poet, Christian, teaching artist
Hello! I'm Alysia Nicole Harris, poet, performer, and activist. It's been great chatting. Thank you all so much for your questions. Please let's keep engaging over social media or via email. booking.alysiaharris@gmail.com. Have a blessed day! Go in power!
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Jabari Jawan
@jabari_jawan
How does one stay consistent with their craft? Particularly poetry?
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Alysia Harris
@poppyinthewheat · poet, Christian, teaching artist
@jabari_jawan Jabari, are we really aiming for consistency or revelation?
Jabari Jawan
@jabari_jawan
@poppyinthewheat most of the time I aim for revelation, but get stuck when looking for it. Or how I would even begin to look for it. As a result it sort of feels forced and the work I produce is decent at face value. But I don't want to be just "decent." If that makes sense?
Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
Hi, Alysia! What's your favorite poem OF ALL TIME? 😊
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
What's something you used to fervently believe that you now see as fundamentally misguided?
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Alysia Harris
@poppyinthewheat · poet, Christian, teaching artist
@eriktorenberg I used to believe people who didn't believe in the faith I believed exactly how I believed it were going to hell. I also used to believe that any form of relative theology was deeply flawed. I have a more nuanced approach that makes room for more questions and for more people. I'm way less sure about everything but it leaves a bit more room for change.
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
What's the difference between grace and mercy? What do most people misunderstand about those concepts?
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Alysia Harris
@poppyinthewheat · poet, Christian, teaching artist
@eriktorenberg Erik!!! You know I could talk about this for days. A simple definition of mercy is not getting the terrible things you deserve. Grace is being giving the wonderful things you don't deserve. Mercy is something that we have correlates of in our everyday societies: a commuted sentence for instance. Grace is when someone has wronged you and you go out of your way not just to forgive that person (an act of mercy) but to radically lavishly expensively love them. Mercy allows you to go back to your former life if you choose. Grace totally overwhelms you and surprises you and unmoors you, totally fucks your whole life up, that you can't go back to being the same person in the same way. I've experienced brief moments of it with my best friend Aysha and with my mother. but the only sustained experience of it I have found is in life with Jesus. I feel God's grace for me, a love that doesn't just look over my ugliness but sees it and still tells me I'm beautiful and worthy and powerful, a love that says not inspite of your brokenness but because of your brokenness I chose to walk with you and to love you. Yeah... that undoes me.
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
What's the biggest thing you've learned from conversations with Erik Torenberg?
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Alysia Harris
@poppyinthewheat · poet, Christian, teaching artist
@eriktorenberg that he's a dear friend and what a gift it is to be able to bring people together not to listen to you necessarily but to benefit from each other.
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
Hey! When you were a child, what did you want to be when you 'grew up'?
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Alysia Harris
@poppyinthewheat · poet, Christian, teaching artist
@bentossell a botanist, a sharp shooter, a philosopher, an adventurer and a poet
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
What question have I not asked you that I should have?
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Alysia Harris
@poppyinthewheat · poet, Christian, teaching artist
@eriktorenberg I think there are a lot of questions that we could and should ask each other. If there were just one it probably would spell a swift end to our friendship.
Kenia Guillen
@kenia_guillen · Year
Hey Alysia, was there a defining moment in your life where you felt you found your mission?
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Alysia Harris
@poppyinthewheat · poet, Christian, teaching artist
@kenia_guillen I remember walking down the street in graduate school feeling very defeated and creatively dead. It was my second year and I was taking a class on programming which was kicking my ass. All of the sudden I hear someone calling down the street saying, "HEY POET! HEY POET!" Immediately I whirled around. I didn't know who this person was talking to. I didn't even know them but my reaction told me everything. It told me poet was a huge piece of my identity. That it wasn't something I would only do for a time. It wasn't what I did it was who I was. And that felt reassuring in that moment. But I believe we are given many calls and missions in life that change due to our circumstances. I believe poet is simply one of the calls on my life. In this season I am interested in engaging what the others might be.
Kenia Guillen
@kenia_guillen · Year
@poppyinthewheat That's beautiful, thank you for sharing! You're truly amazing. I wish you so much more success in bringing your vision to life! & Thank you for sharing your experience with grief, I personally needed to hear that.
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
What are some of your favourite takeaways from performing over the last 7 years?
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Alysia Harris
@poppyinthewheat · poet, Christian, teaching artist
@bentossell that's a great question Ben! 1) regard your audience. See them, challenge them and care for them. It's my job to curate a space for empathy, investigation, and transparency 2) don't be afraid to be seen even as you are trying to see others. 3) perform your poems as if you've never heard them before, try to create within yourself the experience you hope to create within the audience 4) allow moments for grace. you are going to fuck up, forget a line, fumble it etc. allow the audience to experience that kind of intimacy with you. It's a moment for them to see you as human 5) take time for self care. Don't just relive trauma over and over for the sake of them poem.