Universal Creativity May 2015 Issue | Page 12

MEET POET: Nadia Gerassimenko 1. When did you first begin writing poetry? I was 14. I started with both poems, prose, and short stories. Nowadays, it’s just poetry I write. 2. What inspires you when writing each of your wonderful poems? Moonchild Dreams is a quintessence of several distinctive muses depending on when a specific poem was written. As a 14 year old, Spring was my foremost muse. Inspired by the beauty and warmth of springtime, I wrote poems about limitless hope, undying strength, and “perfect” love. When I got older and started dating and falling in and out of love, I wrote almost exclusively about the highs and the lows of relationships. Love was my inspiration at the time. In fact, a big chunk of the book is a tribute to Love and its false self I call Imitation. Nowadays, it’s Words that inspire me. It is difficult to explain and even more so to believe, but words just pop into my mind forming ideas that then materialize into poems. I must say, though, it only happens when I am in a state of complete relaxation and openness in mind, heart, and spirit to let the flow of inspiration and creation pour into me freely. I also make sure to partake in activities that aid in the creative flow as much as possible, such as reading other people’s poetry, listening to soulful music, watching profound films, taking simple but meaningful photographs. 3. How many poems have you written? If we combine my poems, prose, and short stories together, I would say more than 70 individual writings. However, some works have been discarded or lost, so I don’t have an exact number. Perhaps more than 50 poems and still writing! 4. Out of all the poems you have written, which one of them would you say stands out the most to you and why?