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Official member of Realistic Poetry International - Forrest Robert Stepnowski
Born in San Diego, CA, Raised on the east coast and Southern California. Currently live in Tacoma, WA
“My words are my sword to conquer all who have hurt me, I am my own knight in shining armor.”
Poet Bio
- Forrest Robert Stepnowski is an advocate, a writer, a social worker, and a performance artist in the Pacific Northwest. He has been writing poetic works and prose for most of his life. He realized how important is to share his work with others who have dealt with similar pathways of self-hate, self-deprecation, and self-loathing in the hopes they find they are not alone, as well as help them realize they are not deviants, nor are they against "human nature." They are part of a collective of misfit toys on an island where being different is beautiful. We all have a voice, and the world should hear it.
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Why you choose to be a member of Realistic Poetry International
- I love how RPI and its fellow writers support each other unconditionally. It is truly a great network of talented writers and poets.
Poetry is important to me because
I became a poet when I was 12 years old during a time, I felt I had nothing to live for, or so I thought. Poetry is what helped me through a world of significant darkness and self-hatred. I grew up surrounded by violence, both physical and sexual, by the hands of bullies and predators. Some of these individuals were people I was supposed to be able to trust. I was suicidal and self-destructive. I also struggled with being a gay youth in the 80’s and 90’s due to my upbringing and my family around. Although I had support with a few individuals, I had little support for the majority of my family. Poetry helped me realize that my voice had power over the pain those individuals forced upon me. In writing poetry, I was able to forgive them, may be not directly, but enough for me to move forward with my life in peace. Gaining the strength and courage to share my story through poetry, has also helped me help others who felt alone in their own struggles, whether it was from childhood trauma or their own struggle with sexual orientation or identity.
You can read my poetry by clicking the link below.
Learn more about this poet
I have spent most of my adult life in serving others in geriatrics and mental health. I am a Social Worker and Program Director for our states first Dementia and Behavioral Health Long Term Care community. I have also done pro bono work with youth and adolescence who struggled with their own sexual orientation or gender identities. I have a passion for suicide prevention and have been involved with many local agencies that specialize in this area. I was also a nationally award-winning social worker with CSWE; “National Influencing State Policy Contest” in 2006, and a recipient of the University of Washington Tacoma “Gift of Service Award” in 2007. For me, my calling in life is about helping others in various ways, including writing.
There are multiple ways you can support this poet! Simply like, share, or just leave a nice comment below. Remember, we are one community and together we can go far!
I think we should all support each other by sharing each other’s works through our blogs/Websites, and other social media sites. We should not be afraid to review each other’s work, as well. The more we share in the journey of writing, the more our work takes wings to the readers following us.
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Journey to the Rainbow's End: A Drag Queen's Odyssey
Forrest Robert Stepnowski captures the essence of "coming out" and coming of age as a gay male today, and over the past three decades. "Journey to the Rainbow's End" captures the joys of love, the pain of heartbreak, surviving the darkness of suicide, and the self-discovery of finding one’s voice and place in society. Forrest Robert Stepnowski is a community advocate, a writer, a social worker, and a female impersonator, known as Victoria Eyesli, in the Pacific Northwest. He has been writing poetic works and prose for many years, and focuses on empowering others who have dealt with similar pathways of self-hate, self-deprecation, and self-loathing, in the hopes they can find they are not alone, that they are not deviants, nor are they against “human nature.” We all have voices, and the world should hear them all.
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