I'm Devarius Johnson aka Seductive Poetry, the book you are about to read isn't just a poetry book: it's my journey of emotional growth set to words. On these pages are moments, memories, trials and triumphs that I have gone through in my life. Some moments are happy, some are sad and some are dark, but I wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for those moments and I wouldn't be able to share them with you without poetry.
I started writing around age 11; I would sit down and write out my thoughts and feelings as I felt them. I would write lines of sentences, random thoughts with no structure of any kind. I didn't know at the time that what I was doing was writing poetry. I thought poetry was stuff like Dr. Seuss and Edgar Allen Poe, I thought it had to be neat and pretty and rhyme. Nothing I wrote was neat and pretty and none of it rhymed. It wasn't until 2002 when I watched a little known show called Def Poetry Jam that I discovered what I was doing. I watch this thinking I was going to see people recite neat and pretty poems. I watched a young man probably around my age at the time step up to the mic, he started reciting his poem and my mind was blown. Nothing he said remotely rhymed, it wasn't neat and pretty, it was rough and gritty (see what I did there). I went back to my old notebooks and saw that what I was doing was free form poetry and I fell in love with that style. I do write rhyming poetry, but my first and true love will always be free form poetry and I have Russel Simmons to thank for that.
What you are about to read is as I stated above "my journey of emotional growth set to words." I will warn you that some of the poems in this book depict self-harm, abuse and sexual situations, reader discretion is advised. I try to write things in a vague tone and allude to the act but not outright present it. My aim is to bring my thoughts and emotions to the world, shed light on issues and bring awareness to the darker side of humanity through poetry. So, grab a beverage of your choice, find a comfy spot and prepare to read my soul in ink.
