LEARNING TO UNLOVE

ARTS & CULTURE

LEARNING TO UNLOVE

Collection illustrates poet’s journey from love to heartbreak

BY JULIA V. MILLER PHOTOS SUBMITTED

IIn February 2021, Brookhaven native Katherine Ezell found herself struggling with the all too common grief of a broken heart. It was a time of intense feeling and a fury of creative energy, and ultimately it led to her first collection of poems.

“I used poetry as a way to heal when I would get very emotional – as an outlet really,” Ezell said.

Ezell had illustrated two different children’s books published by authors in Laurel, and she had already begun to toy with the idea of putting together her own book.

Her vision in the beginning was to focus on falling in love for the first time at 29. Instead she found herself on the other side of a break up, and unloving him. began to take shape.

“I actually had discussed publishing my writing with the subject of my book, the guy I was writing about,” she said. “In the middle of it, I decided I was going to publish anyway, even if he’s left me.”

The collection follows the evolution of the relationship. It begins with those poems from the early, giddy stage when she first fell in love with the boyfriend. Then she begins to explore the fear of him leaving her, and then the aftermath when that fear is realized. Importantly, though, it ends on a hopeful note: the realization that she will find love again.

“I’m very much a mood artist and a mood writer. I would even say I’m a mood reader. So whatever is going on in my life or that interest me that comes out of me,” Ezell said.

Ezell self-published the collection through Amazon’s KDP platform in April of 2021. Her motivation for going this route was two pronged.

“I wanted to share what I was going through, but I also wanted revenge,” she said with a laugh. “It was my way of proving I’m going to come out on top, proving I’m OK and that I have a little bit of control in my life.”

When she first published the book, Ezell did not go out of her way to promote it. The poetry collection shows a certain amount

loving him.

katherine e. ezell

“I love how [poetry] is a very artistic way to write. You get to bend rules and play with structure and play with words.

Katherine Ezell

of vulnerability, and it took her time and healing to really open up publicly.

“It’s really putting it out there: that fear that something’s missing from me or I’m not enough,” she said.

It felt especially vulnerable when she held a poetry reading and her great aunts and uncles showed up.

“Well, they’re about to find out what happened to me,” she remembered thinking. “It can be a little scary, but I feel like the majority of people have faced something similar to that or at least the fear of not being enough. It’s a very human feeling.”

Since the book’s publication, Ezell has seen her writing life transformed. She is more organized and deliberate. She is already working on a second book that focuses on poems about nature and the Southern landscape.

“I love how poetry is a very artistic way to write. You get to bend rules and play with structure and play with words,” she said. “I would like people to enjoy my writing as a work of art more than anything.”

Ezell never really expected to have a published collection, but writing has always been a big part of Ezell’s life.

“I don’t remember a time when I didn’t write,” she said. “I vividly remember at Lipsey – I don’t remember if it was fifth or sixth grade – I wrote a play based off of Romeo and Juliet. I did a modern day twist on it, and I wanted to perform it on the playground.”

As she’s gotten older, she hasn’t gone out of her way to pursue writing, but it’s always been there. She took creative writing courses in high school and college, but she always considered herself an amateur. Now though she realizes the value of all writers getting their work out there.

“Everyone has their own unique perspective and voice that can’t be copied,” she said. “I feel like I have imposter syndrome. That voice will be like who do you think you are, but I think people should just do things they enjoy more and not listen to that voice.”

Unloving him. is available to purchase online at Amazon.com.

Maybe one day I will forget him Maybe I’ll forget all the ways I have been wronged The interference of my happiness Someone will ask me to recall this moment This memory in which I am now living And I will laugh at how time took the mistreatment And softened her in the folds of my brain Like the edges of an old daguerreotype Maybe my next love, my second love, Will be so resplendent that I will forget A lesser one came before it Time – she will be my pilot And kindly guide me into forgetting him