5-02-2024 4:07am

Poet Katarina Illona Holds Poetry Reading at Peppermint Candy Store

Lesley Misko Editor

by Jane Stahl

The Peppermint Stick Candy Store hosted poet Katarina Illona recently in a reading of her work from her book Anxious Thoughts from an Awkward Mind.

Katarina Illona, BASH grad, Class of She’s-Not-Telling, confesses that her mind is chaotic, “hurried along by anxiety that sometimes keeps [her] up at night.” But she’s learned that expressing her feelings through poetry helps her know herself better and provides acknowledgement, encouragement, support, and validation to her readers.

Katarina, self-described as OCD, has found writing poetry in free verse a liberating experience. “Much of my life, I believed that poetry had to rhyme—had to have a beat and a fixed meter,” she shares. “When I tried writing—just letting the words flow—I found the flexibility tough for me at first, like it wasn’t ‘real poetry.’”

Her poetry is easy-to-read, clever in its imagery and analogies, honest, and self-revealing. The four sections of over 70 poems are titled “Reflection,” “Self-Love,” “People, Places, and Things,” and “Micro Poems.”

“Tacos Fall Apart” is an example:

Tacos are
still loved,

despite

shells breaking.
despite
falling apart.
despite
being a complete mess.
So why
my friend
shouldn’t we still be loved?

Katarina is working on a second book entitled “Sunflowers” that will feature “poems for overcoming darkness while looking for the light.” Katarina explains the symbolism, saying, “I find reassurance and encouragement in the idea of the sunflower. Thick and sturdy, it has what it takes to be a survivor. To endure.”

A poem dedicated to her newborn son Levi provides the real life example: “Your tiny fingers grip my own/and remind me that/ at the end of the day/ my ability to survive/is enough./I am here/and that is all you need.”

Thoughts from an Awkward Mind is available on Amazon.
Anxious Thoughts from an Awkward Mind (Amazon): https://a.co/d/dKe86pU

Author website: https://katarinaillona.com/

A “B Inspired” podcast episode featuring Katarina is available on your favorite podcast platform including Spotify, Google, Castbox, Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and RadioPublic, and Apple.

An article created from the “B Inspired” podcast episode was published in The Boyertown Area Expression and can be found by clicking here.