My inspiration for poetry ~ by Teresa McRae

I am honored to be asked to be a guest blogger this week for my friend Kristine. My name is Terry Shepherd and I write under the name Teresa McRae. I am the author of the Garrison Series, which is composed of three books. The books bring titled, Mamie Garrison, Colin Garrison and Emily Garrison. All are available on Amazon as ebooks and paperbacks, as well as on KU.



I have chosen for my next creative project to write a book of poetry. It may seem a giant leap to go from Historical Fiction to Poetry, but the poems came about as a result of a series of unfortunate events.

In August of 2019, I moved to Vermont. I had separated from my husband and was looking to begin a new life in a new place. I was offered a room in a cousin’s house. This turned out to be an awful idea. In short, it did not work out.

Then two events prompted my return to St Louis. These were more disturbing. The first tragedy was the death of my younger brother, Jeff, on October 8. I had already by this time, realized my decision to live with my cousin was a bad one, but Jeff’s death only increased my sorrow and frustration at being stuck in a place I didn’t want to be, and I was not able to find another place to live within my budget. I was consumed by sadness, as Jeff and I had been very close. He was 15 years younger than I, and more like a son than a brother. I was devastated at the loss.

Shortly after his death, I became involved in a relationship with a nice man who was not ready to be involved. I think I was looking for a way to combat the depression I was feeling. I looked for someone to make me forget how sad I was. This ended badly also.

Thus, the rebirth of my poetry writing. Now, not all poetry comes out of sadness, but in my case, the majority of it did, however. I found myself writing poems. Something I had not done in many years.  I loved reading poetry, but I found it difficult to find the inspiration to pen some verse myself. After the above events, I had plenty of inspiration. Enough that I have determined to produce a book of poetry to be published in May of this year.

I hope my readers, who have loyally followed me for five years now, will find pleasure in reading my poems. Love and loss are universal feelings that we all have experienced at one time or another. I trust my poems will resonate with those who know this.

Thank you for reading, and thanks, Kristine for this opportunity to be a guest blogger.



Listen to Teresa McRae's podcast episode here.