Poetry for Breakfast: Kelsey Bigelow Lives Her Multi-Dimensional Poetry Dream

For Kelsey Bigelow, each day begins with poetry. Not long ago, she was a budding poet writing in secret, not realizing that poetry would soon become her life’s work. When she moved to Des Moines eight years ago from Wisconsin, she hoped relocation would bring an opportunity to meet and rub shoulders with other poets. She soon ran across a Facebook posting for the Des Moines Poetry Slam. Even though she didn’t know what a poetry slam was, the word “poetry” created a powerful draw. Despite never having performed her poetry, the local organizer signed her up to compete. Once she performed, making it into the second round, she was asked how she felt: “That was absolutely terrifying, and I’m doing it for the rest of my life!” She has been as good as her word.

In only a few short years after leaving the financial security and stability of a job in corporate marketing, Bigelow made poetry her full-time job. She has quickly risen within the poetry slam community (statewide and nationwide) as a top performer and organizer (she serves as the Iowa Poetry Association’s Poetry Slam chair and directs the national BlackBerry Peach poetry slam sponsored by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies). In addition, she is finishing her nationwide tour promoting her first full-length collection Far From Broken, she is a teaching artist with the Des Moines Art Center, and she is the founder and leader of the monthly Des Moines Poetry Workshop. To cap her impressive current list of achievements (see more at kelkaybpoetry.com), she will be one of the headline poets at Poetry Palooza in Des Moines at Grand View University on April 4-5, along with nationally-recognized poets Ross Gay, Jane Wong, and Iowa’s State Poet Laureate Vince Gotera. 

Despite her rapid rise to success, Bigelow is living dreams bigger than she may ever have imagined. But at the heart of it, her center is filled by the real connections she makes with people who harbor an inner poet looking for release and developing a community of writers using poetry as a path to healing and an outlet for self-expression. 

“I’ve been working to help our community keep growing and thriving. It’s been the most meaningful work and I’m honored to help more folks see that they, too, are poets,” Bigelow says. In her work with students as a teaching artist, she has encountered young people making crucial connections through writing. Her work has taken her into a variety of learning environments, from classrooms to detention centers. “There are those kids who have questioned the value of their own lives as well as those recovering from the loss of a parent or close family member. I recognize those faces. I was the same age as some of these kids when my mother was diagnosed with cancer. Someone needs to be there to listen—to care about how to use poetry and writing as a coping tool.” 

Bigelow’s mental health writing has taken her to places beyond her expectations. With recovery from trauma and healing as a focus of her writing, she has worked with staff at the Mayo Clinic and NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) conference attendees, exposing them to the power of poetry. “There is no road map for moving forward into a healthy, happy life. But it’s possible you can hold onto hope that things will be good, even if you still carry the heavy with you at times,” she says. “One of my poems, ‘When the Map is No Longer Highlighted in Survival,’ captures the essence of how I move through the world. I spent so much of my life in survival mode—coming out of that is disorienting and uncertain. It’s scarier to live life how you want rather than continuing on in the manner in which you’re familiar.” 

People who follow Bigelow on social media witness her frank challenges, as as moments of joy and gratitude. It’s not uncommon to see emotional photos or videos of her daily life, fragments of verse or glimpses behind and into current work. As she moves through days and weeks, what might be lost on a social media audience is her constant evolution as poet, as poetry ambassador, as educator connecting with one student at a time. “Moments like these (with students) are not rare in the work I get to do. They continue to prove this is what I’m supposed to be doing. Moments like these are the best accomplishments I can hope for,” Bigelow says. 

You can hear more from Kelsey Bigelow during Poetry Palooza on April 3-4. Check out her Saturday workshop, “Poetry as a Coping Tool” and the rest of the schedule at poetryamp.org. This event is free and open to the public.