My Poet Statement - Rachel E. Juliette

The story behind my poet name, Rachel E. Juliette happened while living on the north coast of Ecuador in which much healing unfolded for me through nature while living so close to the sea. I wrote a collection of poetry during this time where each day I wrote a poem or letter to an element of nature and about what layer unfolded for me and through these poems. Writing a poem every day helped me grow closer to nature and myself and the name just came. I remembered how much I loved reading Romeo and Juliet when I was younger in high school and imagined writing romantic poetry and ¨Juliette¨ just felt right and I loved the spelling. Also, I was going to be named Julianna before I was born, and I used to cringe at the thought (it is a beautiful name, but I could never imagine being called it) however, I do like Juliette and I could imagine writing lots of poetry under this name, so it just stuck! Rachel and “E” are both my legal names, however, I just added Juliette. 
 

I find that poetry can change the world in that it can be used as a vessel for healing, helping to nurture our personality and sense of self as well as means of peaceful yet profound activism. I remember writing poetry as a child and making up catchy songs that had a rhyme to them, always putting language to a felt sense that I felt inside which is truly the essence of poetry. I would sing them to myself all the time to stabilize my energy and regulate my emotions. Doing this from a young age gave me hope and naturally built my self-esteem by hearing the wisdom of my own words, my own voice, always connecting to my heart.

I believe everyone is a poet! Poetry has always been playful for me and as a forever poet, I know I play, explore, and heal through my poetry knowing I have the freedom to write from my heart. I hope others might feel connected to my poetry and find meaning in it that somehow enhances their own lived human experience, inspires them, or simply makes them feel less alone in unfavorable human experiences or emotions and company or a friend also in the favorable or more pleasant experiences, too. Poetry has the power of real raw human connection and change; poetry has the depth to access very wounded hearts and bring healing there where one could never touch or get to those crevices of our soul.

I love to write poetry about: my healing journey, healing in general, a vision for harmony and peace, women’s rights, social justice/issues, nature, romance, love, and more. I am looking forward to sharing my first collection (book) of poetry with you soon and many more poems to come!

Rachel E. Juliette, Poet, MA, BFA