I first read poetry in middle school English class. We read the set poetry works for GSCE, which was the death of many of my fellow students! But I absolutely loved it.

We read Romeo and Juliet, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games, Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, and The Importance of Being Earnest amongst others. A motley collection to say the least! We also had some poetry thrown in between. While my essay writing at 15 was still questionable, it was the writing assignments where I started to find my passion.

After leaving Singapore at 16 for boarding school in England, one chapter of my life ended and so did my education in English literature. Switching to A-Levels and not yet recognising my passion, I skipped choosing English as an elective, and it fell by the wayside of my focus.

I didn’t realise how much I did need it. In the dark moments at boarding school, at the times when I felt most alone, I sat late at night and wrote about how I felt. I bottled up my anxieties and my fears and poured it out through my pen. Needless to say not many have read these angsty poems, but they reflect a difficult part of my life. They represent something which I have only come to see recently.

Writing is a part of me. In some shape or form, it has always been a part of my life and my expression. From my early days, reading poetry for the first time and dreaming about rhyming structures or being enamoured by the way Shakespeare wove line after line about love and war. Through my lonely times, through the times I felt loved, and as an ever-present thought as I grew up in my early twenties. Writing is a part of my identity.

I write to you now as I walk through a crossroads - I was let go from a start-up company in a corporate reshuffle, I left home and now live in a new city; I don’t know what my career should be, and I have no fallback option.

But as I say, I am no longer standing at the corner, wondering where to go or what path to follow. I write to you now as I walk forward, forging my own path ahead. Screw the crossroads and their rules, this is life! And while the wasteland before me may make for a bumpy road, and some may not be able to follow, I will press ever forwards. Following the beat of my heart and the tune of my pen, the song of my soul that sings as I write. The part of me that’s always been there.

I write to you now as I hand the wheel over to it. No longer will writing be my side-kick. It shall be the hero of my journey.

I am blessed to call the sunny, albeit very windy, city of Gqeberha in South Africa my current home, where I have a family of houseplants who I dote on far too much! I spend my time playing cricket, rock climbing, or finding new trails on the coastline with my mates and my girlfriend Kate.