Poetry from Daily Life: Reminding myself that 'art begets art begets art'

My guest this week on "Poetry from Daily Life" is Mary Margaret Hughes, who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Her introduction to poetry came early when her mother read Shel Silverstein books to her. She began writing her own poems in middle school. “I went through a yearlong phase,” she says, “where I only wrote very depressing haikus.” One of her favorite projects was being in an ensemble that adapted Ilya Kaminsky's "Deaf Republic: Poems" into a performance piece. A unique fact about Mary Margaret? “I can perfectly color match paint to any reference.” ~ David L. Harrison

Poetry found me at a young age.

When I think about the role that poetry now plays in my life, I think of poetry intertwined with performance and design and the movement of my daily life. Becoming a state champion in poetry recitation is one of the events in my life that really empowered me as a performer and artist. Writing my own poetry is now a constant for me — not only as a creative practice but an emotional one. 

I performed in Poetry Out Loud, a national poetry recitation competition, all four years of high school, becoming the Missouri state champion my senior year. Something about performing someone else’s poetry felt so personal to me. I remember what it felt like to come across the poems I wanted to perform, how I pointed at them and said, “that feeling is the one.”

But if I look back, I can find evidence of poetry’s influence on me even earlier. I recall buying myself a much loved notebook that was covered in William Shakespeare’s words, and littered with lines from his works. I have notebooks full of “songs” written by an 8-year-old me but zero memory of ever putting them to music. And as much as I would like to, I cannot overlook my deeply depressed middle school haiku phase.

This spring I’ve been swimming through a period of my life full of turmoil and avoidance, which has left me utterly lost. As I began to write this a few months ago, I had been avoiding writing my feelings for a few weeks. I cited rising early for work as an excuse to not write in the morning, and being tired from work as an excuse to not write at night. But the moment I stepped back into the theater, I wished for nothing more than my beloved notebook. I witnessed theater being made again, and in response I became a wallflower writing poetry on my phone when I was meant to be ushering people to their seats (sorry).

I sat down in the lobby once the show began and wrote this phrase: art begets art begets art.

I do my best writing when I'm backstage awaiting my next entrance, my best acting when I've got mental notes for days tucked in the back of my head to write down later.

The following weeks have been an effort of throwing myself into as many creative projects as possible that don’t involve my usual mediums of acting and writing; I took a dance class every week, created a series of zines, and launched a photography project with my best friend. It has not only been creatively stimulating, but freeing.

Finding creativity in new mediums is bringing out aspects of my inner child. I get home from a dance class and I feel like that 8-year-old version of myself who just wants to show off the cool dance that I just learned to my mom. And this is the version of myself I am most excited to bring into the rehearsal room for my next play, and the one I am looking to listen to when I write poetry. I hear her whispering in my ear again, pointing out details I need to write down and new feelings I want to expand on. She sees it all with fresh eyes again and reminds me why I write. 

i wonder if people used to think mosquitoes were fairies

seeing them float about on their tiny wings

they do look soft and light

until they leave you scratching through your skin

no wonder fairies were thought to be fickle

kisses turned to angry marks

i smack them between my hands

a fairy murdered

i laugh in triumph

a fairy born

Mary Margaret Hughes is a multidisciplinary artist and performer from Springfield, Missouri. She graduated from Belmont University in 2024 with a BFA in Theatre Performance, and attended LAMDA on their Classical Acting Short Course in 2023. She has acted in theaters spanning Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and is currently performing as Joan Watson in "Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson - Apt. 2B" at St. Croix Festival Theatre. You can follow her work on Instagram @wonderstruck_mm or at marymargarethughes.com.