Meet Ciara Hendrix | Poet, Storyteller, and voted most likely to be reading bell hooks

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ciara Hendrix and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ciara, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
For me, when I’m deciding if it’s worth it to give up or persevere, I have to sit with and make room for my my grief around the circumstances. If the situation requires me to sacrifice too much of myself, I try to find other possible resolutions before walking away.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Poetry is a sacred form of oral tradition and I’m always honored when I have an opportunity to share that feeling with a group of people. Knowing I might help someone feel better or reach a new perspective always excites me.

I grew up doing theatre and writing short stories and poems, but didn’t start performing as a literary artist until 2021. As someone who grew up a voracious reader (read: introvert) and then becoming a theatre kid in middle school, my biggest challenge was reconciling my nerves around performing my work and feeling like it wasn’t good enough to be shared in the first place. I decided at some point that I have to be okay being visible even if I’m scared. I overcame because even though I was scared, I did it anyway, and it was one of the most difficult choices I’ve had to make for myself.

Things I’ve learned along the way: nothing can be achieved without community or discipline. For me, my praxis required me to hone in on my craft through practice, research and collaboration.

I want the world to know that there’s poetry in everything – even things that cause us grief. Grief gives us depth to pull from, we just have to make room for it. I wasted a lot of time lamenting instead of writing or reading because I didn’t want to face myself. I’ve done (and still do) a great deal of shadow work in order to forgive myself and become the poet I am. As an artist, we have an obligation to tell the truth and that requires a strong sense of self.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would definitely take her to get a Publix sub and then hit the beach ASAP. For a week long trip, we’re hitting every art museum we can from Palm Beach to Miami!

Some other activities for the week: Water Taxi, happy hour at Even Keel on a Tuesday for the $2 oysters of course, Oleta River State Park or Birch State Park for a day on the water, secondhand bookstores. She’s a theatre kid like me, a musical/play/opera is a must if there’s one in town she wants to see. She’s also really into gaming so an escape room or arcade bar are absolutely on the itinerary.

The most interesting things to check out in South Florida is the Black history that built the tri-county area (Palm Bch, Broward, Miami-Dade counties). There are so many neighborhoods, businesses, and stories we don’t know about yet.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Love this question! I have to shoutout my girls who have become my sisters over the last decade. They are the most compassionate, fierce, intelligent, and loving women I know! Because of them, I know what sisterhood and community are; this is a major theme in my work. The late Nikki Giovanni also deserves to be mentioned; when I was younger and reading her poem “You Came Too” it struck such a chord in me that I had no choice but to become a poet.

Website: https://msha.ke/ciarahendrix?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaatZnFcAVEVEJHkqa6Q_WnZOoQAXEwRa6BPldtcHJw9dja2GCS9RYa1v4w_aem_Tjg93dgIjYWnyRedcxdnNg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cicispillsink/

Image Credits
Steve Spanoudis
Dennica Worrell