I’ve Arrived
If you’ve found this Substack, thank you for being here. This style of writing is different from what I plan to put out in the coming months. I thought it would be helpful to give some background to how I decided to launch this. If you don’t know, my name is Matthew, and I am primarily a graphic artist. Visual language is my bread and butter. Even when people explain concepts to me, I may not understand a word that is spoken.
So why would I start a Substack when words aren’t necessarily my love? For the past 15 months, I’ve been regularly attending therapy, and writing to process my experience and feelings. Writing has proved helpful, and insightful in my understanding myself better. Sometimes a situation is unclear until I get it out of my head. Occasionally creating artwork has helped me do this as well, but that takes way more out of me to create. But if that was the case, then why wait 15 months to start sharing my writing online?
Just because writing was helping me, didn’t mean that I wanted to publicly share my thoughts with others. Deep intrinsic truths about myself aren’t meant to be shared. However, this past fall, I started graduate school, which required research papers. Considering I received a BFA in Graphic Design, research writing is something I managed to avoid through the entirety of my undergraduate studies. Since the program is online, I had to not only write research essays, but comment on my peers’ work. This led me to see that when I share my thoughts, others respond positively.
Finally, the catalyst event involved an open mic night where I shared poems with a crowd of over fifty people. That was insane, and the response shocked me. Never before, had I been referred to as a poet. I walked in calling my pieces “short day-entries” from a journal. It was terrifying, but I did it.
Since that night, I’ve considered when to start sharing my writing. After finishing a couple other more pressing projects, I’m ready to start. My poetry is free-form because I don’t remember any rules from school. Poetry makes me think, and my writing is inspired by mainly musicians and bands. I’ve listened to so many intricate, creative, thought-provoking lyrics since I was a teenager that it naturally inspires what I have to say.
The likes of Sydney Quiseng of Echosmith, or Brandon Flowers of The Killers. Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic. Mark Foster, Jackie Minton, Josh Garrels, Julien Baker, Andy Mineo, Andrew McMahon and Matt Maher. These artists have such a beautiful way of conveying hope, pain, longing, despair. Real experiences that matter, that have hit me to my core from adolescence to adulthood.
I’m going to start off with poems, but that could easily change in the future. Maybe I’ll want to dissect a song that particularly moves me one week. Or I’ll reflect on a relevant Catholic saint. Maybe combine a reflection on a common theme intertwining both and where my thoughts lie on the topic. I just ask that you meet me with openness, patience, and curiosity for what I’m compelled to write. My aim is to evoke thought, that perhaps hasn’t been previously considered, or maybe resurfacing past thoughts that you’ve forgotten. As much as this writing is about me, it’s about you too.
None of what I write is meant to be taken literally. It may go to dark spaces to bring about a point, but I request that you understand this has been thoughtfully written. This is not a place where I dump my unprocessed emotions. The writing comes from a place of deep emotion, but it has been processed and has been created with the public in mind.
I appreciate you joining me on my writing journey, and hope you will follow along wherever this goes.
‘Till next week, be well.
-Matthew