My Poetry Story
When I was age 7, my best friend Lisa and I wrote many short poems together in school. We took great delight in cutting and folding paper, writing our poems out in coloured ink and in making "books" of our poetry. I feel a happy-fire in my belly just thinking about the treasuries of words we stored in our little lockers.
Shortly afterwards, Lisa sadly moved away and I signed up to a pen pal service. I began writing letters to Lisa and others across the USA. The rays of hope that showered out of the post box every week with stamped news and tales from afar kept me going throughout my childhood. Thank you, parents, for the pocket money to buy stamps!
As I approached adolescence, the pen pals became mostly boys. I turned to bulk-writing in journals, where there were no limits to what could be said or imagined. I learned to contain my emotions through the written word and by the time I submitted my first poem for publication at the age of 12, I knew that words were my best friends - to the page, I could say anything.
My uncle, George Venn, is a poet and Pacific Northwest Historian and throughout my entire life, has sent me his published poetry. I'm grateful for his example, encouragement and input over the years. George set the standard for me and the norm that if you are a poet, you share your poetry - in books, in Christmas cards, at family gatherings, readings and concerts.
In 2009, I needed major surgery and instinctually, knew to pack a notebook and pen to take to hospital. I knew what to do with pain: Listen to it. Then write…and in so doing, let it pass - breathing through the words, being healed by the words. And therein that year, my poetry returned. The work you find in this website and in my books have all been written since then.
Since 2011, I have performed my poetry with pianists such as Marcel Zidani, Janine Smith and Sequoia. I coined the term “Concert Poetry” which is poetry inspired by music and perform in concert alongside each piece that inspires it, creating a frame through which audiences may engage with the music. This innovative work has been well received and collaborations with various performers continue. My poetry commissions to date include artist, Tony Heath, Coughton Court, a National Trust property, The Bulmer Foundation (renamed The Brightspace Foundation) and the Winchcombe Festival of Music and Art. I'm a current member of The Society of Authors and also a trustee of Orchestra Pro Anima.
My composition story
When I was 14, I discovered that by putting my fingers on a keyboard, a language could be entered that was far more illustrative than a pen. So I stopped writing poetry and began composing songs. Words became lyrics and tunes took over; black and white keys became my new friends as I poured out my heart through my fingers - ever reaching for the sounds, the registers, the volumes and textures that would create a world I wanted to be in.
As a child, nobody ever told me that I could be a composer. The first time I learned that being a composer was an “option” for someone other than Mozart, was at the age of 19.
One day during my freshman year, I found myself sitting before Roger Briggs in his office at Western Washington University.
"Tell me what goes on in your head," he gently bid me.
"I hear music in my dreams at night and I want to write it down...but I don't know how."
"Play them for me, play the sounds you hear in your head," he said, and tenderly sat me down at his piano. I obliged and my sound-world filled his office from the pourings of my heart. We then sat down, he thought a moment then simply proclaimed, "You are a composer."
"Am I?!"
"Yes. Would you like to study composition and become a composition major?"
"Well, yes please!" I replied, having no idea what I was signing up for other than that I felt very comfortable in the presence of this teddy-bear of a man. He then picked up the phone, made an administrative call and that was it. I was a composer.
That term I blissfully wrote songs for piano and voice for other people to sing and play, getting forever beyond my musical performing terrors to my true fulfilment. I sang in Faure's Requiem in the University choir. I listened to Stravinsky. I entered a whole NEW world. A WONDER-FILLED world I've never left. My journey took me to the University of Washington where I made another friend in Joel F Durand and then on to London to study with Michael Finnissy at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM). I had found my tribe.
I was 12 weeks pregnant when I graduated with my B.Mus. degree from the RAM and for the next 12 years predominantly taught piano, wrote a new piece each year and generally poured myself into garden and family - as per the template of my Colombian Mother. As the children grew older, I was able to do more and began writing to commission again, moving on from piano teaching. The children, family and garden have been the subject of many pieces and poems and I'm grateful for the wealth of material they provided. I always remember Michael Finnissy saying to me, "Helena, it's not the material that matters, it's what you do with it that matters." Thank you, Michael.
My precedent was set with Emily Dickinson writing from within the world of her garden and my late dear friend Helga Hislop ONLY painting what she found within the boundaries of her garden. My material is limited on purpose. It's what I know.
My business story
Writing to commission is beautiful but jolly laborious work as one must generate the ideas, communicate them onto a score, create parts, be meticulous about detail and do all this in a timely manner so that the performers have the scores in hand in time to rehearse and premiere. In 2014, and my life turned inside-out, commissions and piano teaching could no longer pay the bills and I had to do something else, and fast.
When life throws you lemons... MAKE LEMONADE! So that's what I did. I took all my creative energy, love for the earth and things holistic and built a company - in the exact same way I’d build a score: secure funding; identify a venue; determine the duration of the experience; identify the performers; choose a conductor; set the premiere date and do the marketing; then deliver an excellence experience on time, every time.
The attention to detail in my business and marketing materials (my score), the team (orchestration), the venue (my centre), the precedence of serving both audience and performers - all components of a successful magnum opus. Business for me, is about serving as many people as I can, delivering what I promise and always, in everything, to create a beautiful experience.
My ministry story
In 2014/15 I helped to co-found an online Christian inner healing ministry and training platform called Liebusters. In 2021, the founder and I parted ways. I rebranded as Truthfinding, focusing less on training and more on helping people in the areas I specialise in - spiritual connection, fractured parts and integration work. My upcoming book of spiritual lessons from my healing journey entitled Threads of Gold Weaving Truth and Wholeness into the Tapestry of Life will be published soon - watch this space!
This website is my gift to you, for your enrichment. Please, take your time, go through it and be blessed - for that is my intention.
Thank you for being here with me,
