NHS student publishes first poetry collection

Sofiya Ivanova has always been creative, dabbling in creative writing and songwriting, but poetry is what really captures her interest. "It feels holy," she said, almost wistfully, describing the writing process as something akin to flying, or an out of body experience. "Art," and poetry specifically, she said, "Is the way positive energy can be channeled."

For Ivanova, poetry has been present throughout her life–whether she was trying to make sense of a Lyme Disease diagnosis or make sense of interpersonal interactions–it is both a tool and a means of expression. She often thinks of love and mental health, themes that appear in her poetry; she also explores topics like self-discovery.

"My brain is constantly looking for things to be poetic, I think it makes my life better," she said with a laugh. "Even if something really sucks, I can find [the beauty] a lot of the time." For example, she cited some of the poems written during her Lyme disease recovery as "impactful" and some of her favorite poems.

At first, she shared her poems via a social media account that has since been deactivated. That's where she was discovered by Rebecca Rijsdijk of Sunday Mornings At the River, an indie publisher who highlights poets.

Rijsdijk reached out asking if Ivanova would be interested in contributing to a poetry anthology, to which Ivanova immediately agreed. This anthology, "In the Belly of the Mountain", was released in summer 2020, and it was just the beginning of Ivanova's journey as a published poet.

Months later, Rijsdijk approached Ivanova again with the proposal for an individual book. After nearly a year of compiling poems and editing them, her first collection, Hindsight, was finished.

"The format [of the collection] was really inspired by a snapshot of me growing up," Ivanova said. "I actually decided to keep the poems in chronological order and edit them minimally so that as you read through the book, you see me grow as an artist and grow as a person."

Ivanova cites slam poetry and the beat poetsas major sources of inspiration for her own style, explaining that while she has rhythm, she doesn't necessarily rhyme. While she would like to try more traditional poetry styles, she has fun playing with diction and imagery.

The first few lines of her poem "Local", which is inspired by her love of growing up in Niwot, is rife with such descriptive language:

I sit at the counter behind the cash register watching his drowned god hands at work.

White

as milk,

fingernails dipped blackberry,

sourdough palms,

"In a way poetry, as with any art, it unites us, and it's really powerful," Ivanova said. "Writing poetry creates this feeling that I don't feel doing anything else."

Ivanova has plans to continue writing poetry and will eventually have a website where people can stay up to date with her work. In the meantime, you can find Hindsight online via Amazon. She expressed immense gratitude both to her publisher at Sunday Mornings at the River, which she recommends to other poets aspiring to be published, and to the whole of Niwot, which she said she loves.