Patience and Resilience
By Iain Watson
I have felt alone. I have felt abandoned. I have felt overwhelmed to the point where I had to take the time to reevaluate myself as leader of something that I have put so much time and energy into. I have had to ask myself, “is this really worth it?”, or "why aren't we thriving?" It is easy to point fingers, it is easy to blame others, but it is not easy to confront your own faults. I know there have been plenty of missteps while trying to keep this poetry collective, Spoken Views Collective, going for our community, but those missteps have helped tremendously in my growth and progression as a leader and artist.
The scariest part of having a stake in a service you offer is that no one will support that service. There’s going to be ups and there’s going to be downs, but sometimes those downs can linger and become suffocating. There were times where hardly anyone showed up to an event or a workshop, and for a moment that felt like it was going to be the new norm. This downturn also started to negatively affect my own writing and motivation. This is the point where I had to take a nice hard look at myself and reflect on what got me to this point. I came to the realization that I was lacking support from a team, which is ironic because our name is the Spoken Views Collective. I know I needed to be better about asking for help, and I needed to let go a little more to allow people an opportunity to lead. I also realized how important it is to have patience and resilience. Once I made some necessary changes and switched my outlook, things started to shift and improve...then the pandemic hit and halted our momentum and operations. Again, I had to remind myself to have patience and stay resilient. I can't say I was actively praying for the collective to stay afloat and bounce back after the pandemic, but that prayer was definitely answered - not only have the opportunities been abundant but I have some of the best people supporting and participating in the collective. Community support and participation has been vital to our success.
It's no secret that poetry is a hard sell, but the impact it has had in my life is huge, and all I have wanted to do is share this artform with the community and give a platform for the voices that need to be heard. I have found healing, confidence, and purpose through this artform. I have developed some of my closest relationships and found my chosen family through this collective. On a larger scale, we as a collective, are now recognized by some of my biggest influences and inspirations in the poetry world. This last year has been a blessing and I know more than ever how important this platform is for the community. I no longer feel alone on this journey and know that we are definitely stronger, more beautiful, and successful together.
Photo courtesy of Iain Watson.
Iain Watson is a fifth generation Nevadan and currently a third-grade teacher at Cannan Elementary School. Watson is one of the founders and director of Spoken Views Collective, a poetry organization that promotes and offers platforms in the community for spoken word poetry performances, poetry readings, storytelling, and other forms of literary expression. Iain is participating in the 2022 Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl in Reno on September 10, 2022, and his panel is “ Spoken Views Collective Showcase.”