  Ashley Woodson is a beautiful and sweet inner city young girl I met on July fourth at a retreat center in Woodstock, IL.
She appeared to be very quiet in passing. But once I sat down to talk with her, I became amazed at how much she had to share with me. Three hours passed seeming like minutes. She walked around with a book bag on her back filled with writing materials, and a composition notebook filled with writing.
At eleven, she already has several books filled with poetry. With anxiety and passion, she read her work aloud to me. I sat in awe of the issues she addressed and I marveled at her play on words. As I complimented her work, she told me that she thought they were just ok and that she writes a lot of bad poems. So of course, we had this whole interesting conversation about 'bad poems'. If there is even such a thing as bad poetry; and if so, what subjects a poem to that category.
Ashley went on. I listened. Ashley kept on. I learned. She is by far, the most intelligent and focused eleven year old I have conversed with. Then I aked her to tell me about herself. She talked about how she wanted to become a poet and about how she started writing.
As she fluctuated from one subject to another, I found out that she had a really low self-esteem, she did not like her looks, and that she no longer liked the fact that she found companionship in writing. When I asked her why, she explained how her friends tease her for carrying around a notebook all the time and writing "stupid poetry". They ask, why can't you be like a regular young girl? Though it infuriates her when they say things like that, she does not voice her feelings to them because she says they won't listen any how. So instead, she turns to her secret world of writing to release what she calls "bad poetry". For Ashley, bad poetry is depressing poetry.
Poetry that depicts the harsh reality of a young girl lost, trying to fit in. Bad poetry is poetry about a young girl who writes about how she hates her calling to words because no one seems to understand her. For me, if there is even such a thing as bad poetry, it would be poetry that does not have a heart or soul in it. Ashley's poems has her heart and soul in them. Furthermore, like famous writer Rilke, I believe that all poetry that arises out of a necessity to write is good.
Because the writer acted on the calling to write down what was put in his/her heart/mind. I pulled out a poem I wrote a few months ago, particularly to uplift young girls esteem. I read it to Ashley and we both had tears in our eyes. The big smile on her face was enough of a reward for having written that poem.
I dedicated the poem to her, gave her the copy to keep, gave her all the wisdom my experience have taught me abut writing and self-esteem, and we exchanged information to become pen pals. Before she walked out of the door, I heard her recite lines to the poem I had read to her moments before. I guess she was the one God had in mind when he gave those words to me. And I wrote them for her without even knowing her. Blogging off...B-Girl. p/s: oh yeah...shout to my writing pal Ashley Woodson from Evanston, IL. (I know you're reading this...haha) 
