(upbeat music) - Welcome to Forum 360, the show with a local outlook and a global view.

My name is Mark Welfley, and I'm your host today.

So what's on your mind?

To most of us, we express ourselves through social media, texting, or perhaps a casual get together at a coffee shop with friends.

My guest today has chosen a different mode of communication to express herself, poetry.

Her name, her book, "Open Your Eyes," consists of 40 poems that give us a glimpse into the heart, the mind, and spirit of a pre-teen.

Her whimsy and sometimes serious poems cover topics that include nature, relationships, love, war, empowerment, and hope for the future.

They evoke in us the emotions of sadness and joy, gratification, uncertainty, kindness, and humility.

So let me introduce you to my guest.

Her name is Katherine Welfley, now a 13-year-old eighth grader.

Katherine wrote her first poem at the age of eight and hasn't stopped writing since.

And for transparency, Katherine is my daughter.

So welcome to Forum 360, Katherine.

- Thank you, dad.

- You're welcome.

- Nice to be here.

- So tell me about your very first poem.

And is your first poem in your book?

- Yes, so the very first poem I ever wrote was in second grade, I wrote it in this book, it's the very last poem, so you have to read the entire book to get to the very last one to read that one, or you could just skip to the end, but be a lot better if you read the rest of them.

So that is my first poem that I remember writing.

The first poem I ever wrote was "In Some Place" in second grade.

I did a lot of writing in elementary school, and this is the first one I truly remember sitting down, taking my pencil, and physically writing it.

And it's the last poem in my book.

So gotta read through all of the poems to get to that one, or you could just skip to the end, but I suggest reading the rest of them.

I will read it for you.

"In Some Place."

"In some place where I can swing my arms.

In some place where I can smile.

In some place where I can laugh.

In some place where I am a child.

In some place where we can all be friends.

In some place where kindness never ends.

In some place where we can all be expressive and a place where we all get along.

A place where everyone can play with all the same toys and black and white and brown can all get along with only laughs and smiles."

- Simple.

- Yeah.

- Thanks, I remember when you wrote that, yes.

- I remember coming home- - Came home beautiful, yeah.

- Sure.

- So you got your start or part of your past in poem writing by writing poems and then selling them door-to-door throughout the neighborhood.

Tell me a little bit about that experience.

- Sure, so me and my friend wrote poems together and then we typed them up on the computer and we printed a whole bunch of copies out and then we went door-to-door selling them to all of the neighbors and, well, all that wanted to buy one, which was a good amount, and they were very supportive, and it was a really good experience.

And then we donated a good amount of profits to the animal shelter called Rescue Village.

And yeah, it was really good.

- So what is it about poetry that you have chosen as kind of your mode of communication, why do you, what interests you about poetry?

- Yeah, it's my way of expressing things, my ideas, my thoughts with the world.

Sometimes, speaking is difficult for me and I think it is for a lot of people.

And so being able to write things and share that with the world, I can gather all my thoughts and I can edit them and I can really express what I believe in them and really just share that with everyone and anyone who would like to be open to my thoughts.

- Yeah.

So 40 poems in your book "Open Your Eyes."

And how long did it take you to write 40 poems?

- I'm not even gonna give you an estimate, it was many years.

A lot of it was just editing.

There were several years that it took to write the poems, it's not like I just like sat down and wrote 40 poems, and I keep growing as a writer, that's part of the difficulty of poems.

I write all these poems and then I keep writing them and it's like, oh, where do I stop?

Where do I not, where do I cut it off?

And so... You know, 40 poems, took a while to write them, but also to get them together and to make it like a final copy of this book.

I'm sorry, it was right in front of my face, this book.

It was a journey, but it was a good journey.

- [Mark] Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Good.

So the writing a book has phases, the creation of the content, the editing of it, the putting it into a book.

Which part of your journey did you find most challenging?

- The editing, I am a huge procrastinator.

That is one of the things that challenged me about this book, was pictures or no pictures, I love photography, I took a lot of pictures specifically of nature, and I had put these pictures into the book.

And you get author's copies.

And I have gotten several with the pictures.

And then I was like, you know what?

This really just isn't the theme of the book, this isn't what I want people to see.

And I mean, I want people to see my pictures, but just not displayed this way.

So the whole final editing of the book to get the final copy, to get what I really wanted to give out into the world, to put out there, that was the most difficult part for me.

- Sure.

So since you were eight when wrote your first poem and now you're, you know, 13, how has your writing style changed, or has it changed?

- Right, so it has changed, it definitely has.

I used to write a lot about what I saw and what I heard from other people in the world and really, truly my thoughts as well, but now I write about what I feel.

I have experienced a lot and I can better comprehend what I've experienced, and taking those feelings and putting them into words is more of what I do now versus seeing something.

Oh, somebody said this, oh, somebody did this, I'm gonna write this down.

That's how my poetry has changed.

- Yeah, sure, writing from the heart.

So do you have a favorite poem in the book, and can you read it to us and tell us a little bit about kind of how it touches you in a special, more kind of significant way than the other poems might?

- Yeah, I love a lot of my poems, but I have two specific ones that I do really enjoy reading, and they're "Mirror" and "The Internal Thoughts of a Scarecrow."

Do you have a preference on which one you like better?

- Read the "Mirror."

- "Mirror?"

Okay.

This is called "Mirror," as mentioned before.

"A long way from perfect, though it is more than a pleasure, yet never in time could it be fully recovered.

The picture on the wall tells lies, many unraveled by the truth.

This is a dangerous thing to play with.

It's unfortunate we have not done all we could, because I wish the world could be more than this mirror ever would."

- Yeah, so tell us a little bit about the poem, and why you like it, how you came to write it.

- So this is a deep poem, and a lot of my poems are perceived in many different ways, depending on the person, I know I wrote poems and I had this idea of what it was about.

And then my parents read it or my friends read it and they were like, "Oh, I thought it was so and so."

I was like, "Oh, really?

Okay, I can see your point of view, I can see your perspective, but I thought it was this."

So, you know, this poem, from my eyes, is really about the world, and the mirror is the reflection of the world, how it's being reflected.

And then there's the true world, the world that we really do live in, the honest world that really has many things that we need to improve.

And then there's the world that's, you know, the perfect world, the world we think we see and we live in, but we really don't.

And so this poem, "Mirror," is talking about those two separate worlds and how they contrast and how we really haven't done all those things that we should have and we could have done to make this world better.

- Yeah, great.

So while you're at it, could you find "The Internal Thoughts of a Scarecrow," 'cause it's also one of my favorites, "The Internal Thoughts of a Scarecrow."

- Sure, so this is one of the longest poems in my book.

"The Internal Thoughts of a Scarecrow."

"I live a lonely life, scaring animals away.

A scarecrow I am, farmers say I save the day.

I feel like I'm nothing, I constantly feel sad.

You know I have a soul too, but I'm forced to look and feel bad.

Humans ignore me and walk right on by.

I wish I could be more than just a stiff, scary guy.

I have emotions too, I'm not comfortable in my own skin.

When it starts to rain, I feel like the walls are caving in.

You may think we look happy, like we love our home, but really, we have no choice, we cannot roam.

We may not pick where we live or what we do.

We do not have freedom like you humans do.

I do not have a friend, I live in the garden, always standing at the end.

Every bird and squirrel that comes near me is frightened and runs away.

I stand there alone each and every day.

I'm more than just some rags, barely stitch together.

Human lives are always so much better."

- Talk to me about the poem.

- So I don't have much to say about this, I think most of it is said in the poem.

But this poem was meant to bring a new perspective on the world and how different animals and objects see things.

And I think that a soul is existent and present in so many things in the world.

And if, you know, this scarecrow was living, this would be the perspective of the scarecrow.

So just seeing how our different perspectives compare is what this poem is really trying to get at- - Yeah, I like it.

- In my mind.

- Thanks.

- Yeah.

- If you're just joining us, thank you for listening and/or watching.

I am with Katherine Welfley, and Katherine Welfley has written a book called "Open Your Eyes: Forty Poems from the Heart, Soul, and Mind of a Pre-Teen."

And so we were reading some of the poems and talking a little bit about them.

What do you hope that your readers will like, will take away from this?

I know you mentioned that the poems kind of hit or reached people differently, what's your hope in terms of what the takeaway would be for someone who reads?

- Yeah, really just what you said, a new perspective.

My goal, as is stated in the title, "Open Your Eyes," I want people to open their eyes to the different thoughts of respective people and places and items and things in the world.

And I want that to be something that people acknowledge in the future.

And I am definitely still working on that as a human, we're all human beings, we have room to grow and improve.

And some of these poems are really reminders too to myself that I can be someone, I should be someone who's impacting the world.

And to motivate myself and remind myself, it's really a reflection on me as well.

And so I hope people gain a new perspective and I hope that I as well am reminded of the world around me and that I am motivated to make a change and impact people and their place in the world.

- Yeah.

Turning to some of the topics of poems in your book, one of them is friendship.

- [Katherine] Correct.

- And you have...

I think, several poems dedicated to friends, and one friend in particular.

Can you tell me a little bit about kind of the evolution of poems for friends and your friend and so forth?

- As you may have seen from this interview, I write a lot about what I see and I feel and I hear, and friendship is really valuable to me, that's one of the things that is really important in my life.

So I write a lot of poems about friendship, as you will see when you read the book.

And so I wrote a poem, specifically a lot of them about one friend in particular, but she went to the same elementary school as I did.

And we met there and played on the playground every day, we became really good friends, and she was there for a year and then she moved away.

And I really miss her, if you're out there, Penny, I love you and miss you.

Hi.

And so I wrote a lot of poems about her and that whole experience of moving and that great friendship we have.

And I have other great friends out there as well, love you all too.

But I did write several of the poems in here about friendship for her, about her, about my experience with that, so.

- [Mark] Can you read one for us?

- Of course.

Give me a second.

- What will this poem be called?

I know you have- - It will be called- - A "Friendship Necklace," you have a poem on "Shiny Penny."

- Yes.

- And several others.

- Okay.

- So this is one in general about friendship that I wrote really for all of my friends.

"Two have split apart, traveling on strings of gold, far away but still attached, broken outside but not when put together.

Two friends are all it takes for one friendship necklace that emotionally never breaks."

That's called "Friendship Necklace."

So that is for all my friends out there, all the people watching.

And then... Let's see.

You also have one on "Shiny Penny," right?

- I do.

- Is that the one you're looking for next?

- Yes, and here we are.

- Yeah, I like that one.

- Okay, this is "Shiny Penny."

"You may not be next to me right now, but I know you by your name.

And if you call me, I will still remember you the same.

Some friends are near and live around town, some are far away, making them harder to be found.

It doesn't matter if you're near or far, I will remember you wherever you are."

- [Mark] Awesome, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Great, thanks.

- Of course.

- The second topic I'd like to focus on is poems that have a little twist, a little edge at the end.

And one of my personal favorites, which, as you know, I advocated you to keep in the book because you liked it so much and so did I, is "Tighten the Bolts."

Can you read "Tighten the Bolts" to us?

- Yeah, here it is.

This is "Tighten the Bolts."

"Every part counts in a spaceship, make sure every piece is screwed in tight.

Most definitely ensure the metal on the inside hides the outside light.

Be careful how you move, be careful what you do, 'cause you might just take a ride to space with the crew."

So this poem, I had a different perspective than my dad, but I think we both agreed after our conversation, it was a long conversation but it was meaningful, we agreed that it was really about how your decisions that you make can come back to haunt you.

You know, this poem about the spaceship, if you build a terrible spaceship, it doesn't work, it's all busticated and falling apart, then you go on the spaceship, you're not gonna feel very confident.

So that's really encouraging you to watch what you do and be diligent with your work.

- Yeah, pay attention to detail, thanks.

Let's turn to a serious topic right now, a lot of unrest in the world, and you wrote a poem on war called "War Never Wins."

And I'd like you to read that and tell us a little bit about your thoughts on war.

- So this is one of my personal favorite poems.

I wrote this one relatively recently.

I will read it to you in just a second.

- Yeah.

- Here we are, okay.

"War Never Wins.

What is the point of war, to broadcast I’m bigger and better than you?

Stronger, tougher, nothing new.

What do the lives of those lost in battle have to show for?

Fighting against their own species in the government's selfish war.

To all those who are listening, low in the bunkers and high in the clouds, war is a disappointment for all who honor our country with their brave and selfless vow.

And to all the people out there wondering when this will end, unless when we become one united world, our unity will descend."

- [Mark] Yeah.

- This is really about current events, there are so many different conflicts that are happening in the world right now, and this poem really relates to them.

I remember when the war in Ukraine had just started, this is the poem I wrote particularly about that one.

- Yeah, sure.

Very, a poem that should give us all some opportunity to reflect.

Moving to some humorous poems.

On page 83 is one of my favorites called "Farm Rules."

Can you read us "Farm Rules" and tell us about "Farm Rules" on page 83?

- I will, this is "Farm Rules."

"Don't run with the horses, don't play with the cattle.

Don't irritate your brother and get into a battle.

Don't leave the door open, don't play in the mud.

Water the flowers so they will bud.

Pick all the veggies when they're ripe.

Don't smash the hammer into the pipe.

Take a bath when you are dirty.

Don't chase or capture a poor little birdie.

Don't spit out your food or say it's disgusting.

Make sure none of the metal is rusting.

Thoroughly dust the house, but leave some crumbs for the mouse.

Now you know all the rules you must obey, you can go outside and play."

So I've never lived on the farm, but this is what I think a farm life might be if I were to live one but, you know, this is my perspective.

I don't live on a farm so I could be wrong, but- - Well, I love the message that, whether you live on a farm or whether you live in the city or whether you live in an apartment, right, your parents will tell you 500 things you can do, that you can't do, and now you go out and play and you gotta watch and make sure you don't do any of those things.

So, you know, how do you really play?

So I just love the, I guess the animated twist in that poem.

Now, your shortest poem is called "Action."

And "Action" is on page number 59.

Can you read "Action" to us and tell us a little bit about your internal thoughts of a poet?

- Sure, so this is a very short poem, it's one sentence, but it's a very reflective poem.

When you read it, it takes me at least a minute to just say, hold on, let me think about this.

So here it is.

"It means something to say something, but it says something to mean it."

So I want you to just think about those words for like five seconds.

All right, so that poem, I don't have much to say about it.

That's one of the poems that just popped into my mind.

I like reading different poems about like play on words and stuff like that, and sayings, I really like impactful, meaningful sayings, and I think that carried on, and that's one of the things that the poems that I wrote, that was- - Yeah, sure.

- Was coming from that side of me.

- So are there other poems that you like or that you would like to share with us?

- Yeah.

Let's see.

So "Not Dirty" is one of the poems I really like.

- [Mark] So "Not Dirty."

- "Not Dirty."

- [Mark] Okay.

- Yeah, that's not what it sounds like.

"I am not dirty, there is nothing I've done wrong.

Call me a liar, accuse me with fire, I tell the truth.

Drench me in disappointment, shame, and anger, I am stronger.

When you think I am drowning, I hold on for longer."

Yeah, that's mental strength.

That's what that poem's about.

Yeah.

- Thanks.

Now, you also wrote a poem that is the title of your book, "Open Your Eyes."

- Correct.

- And can you tell me why you chose "Open Your Eyes," and can you read the "Open Your Eyes" poem for us?

- Sure, so I'm gonna start by reading the "Open Your Eyes" poem so you get an idea of what it is.

It's the first poem in the book, if you're wondering.

"Open your eyes to a land of wonder, open your eyes to a land of joy, where nobody tries to hate, hurt, aggravate, or annoy.

Open your eyes to something more, something beyond peace, where we lay our grim feelings out of reach.

Go further than anyone has ever been, create something amazing, a kinder and gentler world again."

So I chose that title or that poem as the title because it's a very intriguing name.

The title leads to some uncertainty, and I think uncertainty leads to curiosity.

And so when you hear that, open your eyes, open your eyes to what?

What am I opening my eyes to?

So that's the first reason why I chose that, and I think it also just sums up like what my poem is about, my entire poem book.

My message to the world, my goal, that is why I chose that poem.

- Sure.

Life moves quickly and technology even quicker.

It isn't easy to be a pre-teen these days, in fact, it's not really easy just being ourselves.

So sometimes, it's just best to sit back and enjoy the simple life with some good old-fashioned ice cream.

So I would like to thank Kat Welfley for being here today, for sharing her poems with us.

And as we close, I would like Kat to read her poem "Ice Cream."

Thank you for watching and listening, and please keep your mind and ears open until next time on Forum 360.

- Awesome, so thanks for handing it over to me.

Here's "Ice Cream" to finish off the interview.

I wanna say thank you for watching, thank you for taking the time out of your I'm sure busy schedule and day to listen to this interview, and let's end it off on a good note.

All right, here's "Ice Cream."

"The sun goes away as I trudge back inside.

I'm hot and tired from a soccer game, during which I really tried.

A special treat to ease all concerns, that's the smoothest silky chocolate.

Trust me, from experience I've learned.

It gives me the power to laugh and to smile, and no pun intended, chill for a while."

- [Mark] Yeah, great.

Thank you for being here.

- Of course, thank you for having me, it's been a pleasure.

Yeah.

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