Poet Profile: Abigail Kloss-Aycardi
Born: 1985
Birthplace: Two Rivers, Wisconsin, USA
Abigail began writing poetry at the age of seven. Her first poem, “Spring” was published in the local newspaper, shortly followed by her second poem, “Stars”. She gives credit to her second grade teacher, Teri, for encouraging her from the very beginning and for being the first to submit her pieces for publishing.
Abigail continued to write through grade school with the support of her parents and grandparents and a few close friends. Her audience grew as her middle school English teacher showed her class projects to her own friends. Despite her enjoyment for writing however, Abigail and her friend Nicole frequently found ways to escape English class to write poetry in the school library. It was during this time that she realized that her best writing came through when she had the freedom to write about the topics that interested her and not what the teachers often assigned. She also learned that she needed to pick her potential readers and critics very carefully. She wrote a brief essay, “Whom to Tell? The Ultimate Trust Issue for a Writer”, in which she explained the the process and resulting concerns of finding a suitable audience for one’s own work. This piece won her publication in a county-wide contest that year.
In 2005, at the age of twenty, Abigail’s first book, Love Is An Orchid was published by Star Image Studio and her second book, Deep Within Creative Minds was published only the following year. Both books are compilations of 14 years of poetry.
With the passing years, marriage, full-time volunteer work in the tropics and all the adventures that go with it, Abigail continues to write, although not as frequently or as intensely as in her teen years. She maintains a blog for young poets and one about her experiences abroad.
Abigail’s poems cover such topics as family and friendship, fear, loss, creativity, disappointment, love, happiness, agitation, frustration, nature, memories, humor, faith, determination, among others. Never writing anything which she doesn’t feel, her writing is full of intensity and detailed descriptions.
Abigail claims her biggest influences in her writing to be: her parents, her dear friend and fellow writer Anna Marie Fritz, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley, Emily Dickinson, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Burns, the music of Andrea Bocelli, Seal, Stan Getz, Duke Ellington, Michael Bolton, Michael Bublé, Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, 3 Doors Down, The Fray, OneRepublic, Dario Marianelli and many more.
