Behind The Pages: What Inspired Me To Write Until We Speak Poetry Book

Putting your poems out in the world feels like bearing your soul for all to see. 

There is no hiding behind the words of poetry. It tells all. It doesn’t cower to the light. Instead, it picks up power when others can see it. 

Poetry is raw and real. Within it, you can feel the pain, the joy, the hatred, the power in the words. It puts you in certain places and times. It gives you a glimpse into someone’s moment. A moment when time stood still enough to evoke emotions that needed to be released. 

Poetry isn’t just a book that you can pick up and read through quickly. 

Poetry is meant to be absorbed by the reader. Meant to take you along a path of healing, a path of anger, a path of triumph. 

Poetry rips open the writer and the reader. Exposing truth and realness in a time when it is often so well hidden. 

POETRY, HEALING, AND THE POWER OF WORDS

Until We Speak was born out of a need to remind women that we have voices. Voices that can be loud. Voices that can be disruptive. Voices that can be quiet. Voices that can show up even when no one is listening. 

I lost my voice. I let it die inside of me for a very long time. What did that mean? It meant that part of me was always hidden. Part of me could never be exposed because I couldn’t let out the words, the thoughts, the emotions that I was holding so close to myself. 

It meant that part of me was slowly rotting away. Trying to pretend that I didn’t need to write. That I didn’t need to give the words a place to go. 

Until We Speak was written through tears in the middle of the night. It was written through anger in moments when rage was taking over my body and needed to be released. It was written through the moments when love was radiating out of me. 

All the different pieces of me showed up in this book to remind EVERY woman that their voice matters. That if we all sit silent and let those emotions rot away on the inside, nothing changes except how we feel about ourselves. 

Burn It Down from Until We Speak

I wrote this poem on a night when silence felt too heavy to carry alone. Words became my match, striking against everything that I had kept buried. 

Read it slowly, maybe aloud, and notice which line lingers in your chest. For me, "Burn It Down" was about destruction as a means to freedom. A reminder that even fire can heal, clearing space for something else to rise. 

Burn It Down by Samantha Laycock

Blue sky swirling 

Reflected back at me

My head in the clouds

Struggling to catch my breath

Influencing the way 

That I see who I am

Trapped inside this

Vortex of pain and confusion

The only way forward

Is to set it ablaze

Forgetting what I know

And walking away

Flying through the air

The match is lit

Watching in slow motion

As ignition takes place

Mesmerized by the flame

Swallowing everything whole

I turn around in the glow

Of the flames as I go

Poetry asks us to be brave enough to name what we feel and then let it transform us. I was looking for something stronger to emerge in those moments. Sometimes that transformation looks like ash. Sometimes it looks like new growth breaking through the soil. 

Transformation isn’t this beautiful segway into something else. It is often ugly, destructive, and confusing. Making us feel like it is the end when in reality it is just the process of change. 

USING THESE POETRY PROMPTS TO WRITE

Here are three unique prompts to help you write your own “burn it down” moment. Let them guide you into honesty, even if you never share the words. 

1. THE MATCH: Write one sentence that feels like striking a match against silence. What do you need to ignite right now? 

2. THE FIRE: Imagine a flame swallowing what no longer serves you: a fear, a memory, or a belief. Describe the colors, the crackle, the release. 

3. THE GLOW: After the fire dies down, what light remains? Write about the warmth, the space, or the freedom that’s left behind. 

Poetry doesn’t just tell stories. It heals places inside of us that feel unspeakable. This is your reminder that the words we bury will always find a way out. 

If this poem or these prompts stir something in you, give yourself the gift of writing it down. Your voice matters, and the world is waiting for it. 

Want more? Until We Speak is filled with poems like this. Poems that were written through tears, rage, and love. Each one a reminder that silence can be broken.