Lovie Divine, God's Poetess Since 1976
"My Story"
In 1976, America turned two hundred years old. I turned sixteen.
While a nation celebrated its independence, I was discovering my own — not from a country, but from the silence of a girl who had always internalized, feeling things seemingly too deeply while saying too little. I had been writing poetry since grade school, and avidly through high school; but that bicentennial year, in 1976, something shifted when celebrating the woman, who began celebrating me.
Evangelist Mazaline Murchison Gelsey, a missionary to many, following her own Mom, Lillie Murchison's footsteps sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, to us, she was our dear Mom. And for her tearful reaction, for my writing what was intended to be my greatest gift to her, became that day, my greatest poem ever in my heart, when she identified me as her precious little poet. I then spread my adolescent wings embracing something I was proud to identify with being, not the model, not the movie star, or the famous singer I secretly desired becoming; but that "I am truly, a poet," I thought that very moment.
The poem, "Golden Sand" (right here in my archives), was for her 40th birthday, and was celebrated by her on July 2nd 1976, a gift she intended to never let me forget giving her. Four months after my sixteenth birthday was hers, just two days before Independence Day. She was an independent woman alright. But she was an independent woman dependent on God, providing for us on her own. She had been divorced from our Dad, working two jobs at times for years, just to keep us all afloat, each of her six children.
She would come home exhausted and we were concerned, at times hearing her crying in her room when she thought we couldn't hear. But when stepping out, would be wearing a smile as if everything were fine. She wasn't just mom to us; in our hearts, she was our queen, and in my heart, as virtuous as the "Unsinkable Molly Brown." So that year, (not having money to purchase a gift), I wanted to give her something reflecting how I felt; something that no store could sell and no hardship could ever take away.
I wrote her the poem, Golden Sand, not about the holiday, but about time, precious as gold time with her, as if in an hourglass spilling. It was about the hero she had become in my heart, and about how life only lends us time with our loved ones for a season, and how precious every grain of that time was to me. When she read it, her face changed. Her tears came — not from sorrow this time, but from joy, letting me know that I was her precious poet, her very own daughter.
My life from thence, also identifying at that same age with Christ as my Savior, I embraced being a Christian poetess, attributing the gift to write, from God Himself. I kept writing — to touch His heart and as an outlet. Quotes, stories, about news affecting my life, political expressions, and then "biblical" no longer political. Writing was once my outlet, for my identity with Christ. So believing as a young girl that my poems were diary material, I kept many of my pieces on loose leaf notebook paper, that I misplaced from time to time.
Years later as a young woman, I discovered my first online poetry site, Poetry.com. It was there I transferred many of my kept, poetry from my teen years to my young adult years. There, I earned the title of Legendary Poet through years of reading, reviewing, and refining my craft alongside fellow writers. That accomplishment gave me a feeling of accomplishment and an honor that I had never known before; but as generously awarded, it was taken.
When Poetry.com was shut down and sold, I lost nearly everything — my poems, my status, and my community. This hurt me deeply; but behind the loss, the gift itself could never be taken away. I rebuilt here on All Poetry and Poetry Soup, and in the rebuilding, I discovered something greater than status: purpose. Before, I believed writing was for me — my expression, my enjoyment, my healing. But after coming to understand that it was a gift to be a gift to others, it offered rewards that still rewards me to this day.
And now seeing all of the love, passion, and inspiration that such a Divine loving God pours in me touching others, from this experience, came the inspired name iLovie Divine, God's Poetess, and this following statement is my epithet:
"I was a young girl who became a poet. And though young in heart, am now old. I am humbled that God would make me a poet; and for the great works of poetry I have read, no matter the age I am and come to be, in the world of poetry I am but a child. For in comparison to those who have shared such wonders to the world through their gift to write poetry, I could only hope to touch many as I have been touched."
My muse is Serenity. My mission is Timeless. To those who would cherish what I have written, I say thank you for the honor of reading and loving my poetry.