Atlanta-based poet Justin Patton's professional life and artistic life are one and the same
Our “Speaking of” series spotlights local creatives sharing their inspiration, influences and experiences. In our continued efforts to expand the series, we’ve added “Speaking of Poetry” to our collection. In this segment, Atlanta’s most prolific wordsmiths discuss the art of evoking emotions with words.
For this edition of “Speaking of Poetry,” we feature poet Justin Patton. Patton describes his style as genuine, honest and personal. “I like to talk about the things that I’m going through in a real way so that it might help people with what they’re going through,” Patton said.
Patton also likes to be as honest as possible because the more he gets it [issues] out when writing, the easier it is to deal with.
“I am the type of person to sit down and force myself to write whether I like it or not,” Patton reflected. “Because I feel like in our professional lives, that’s what we do when we go to work, so in my artistic life, I force myself to do the same.”
In this segment, Patton shares an excerpt from a poem titled “I’ma live forever.”
I put my life in these lines
Stand firm in these stanzas,
I ain’t on these stages
Shuckin and jivin for followers
My family gotta eat so don’t trip
When I sell you my book for 20 dollars
Atlanta-based poet Justin Patton can be found on Instagram here.
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