Your poem “Love” describes love as something spiritually fulfilling, but also something a person must work at. How did you first approach writing this poem?

I approached writing "Love" with the understanding that, from a biblical perspective, true love is always an act of surrender and giving—one that requires both effort and deep faith. Scripture shows us that love is not merely an emotion or an experience but a calling to serve and to give of ourselves as Jesus did. This kind of love often requires letting go of self-interest, stepping into humility, and choosing sacrifice, even when it’s difficult. I wanted the poem to reflect this layered reality, where love is both spiritually fulfilling and demanding.

In writing “Love”, I thought about how faith sustains me in this journey. Love rooted in God’s example asks us to trust in His strength, especially when our own falls short. So, as the poem developed, it became a reflection on the beauty and strength of a love that’s enduring and active—a love that grows not only in moments of joy but also through trials, as we lean on God to help us love fully and faithfully.

The poem also suggests that one must mature into realizing love as a “verb”. What was your inspiration to write this piece?

The inspiration for this piece came from my own journey of faith and marriage understanding that love, in its truest form, is active—it’s a verb. So often, love is thought of as a feeling, but biblically, love is so much more than that. It’s a commitment, a choice to act with kindness, patience, humility, and forgiveness, just as Christ demonstrated. Writing “Love”, I wanted to explore this process of maturing into a deeper understanding of love, moving from shallow romanticized ideals to the sacrificial, everyday selfless actions that define true love. 

This perspective was shaped by witnessing the transformative impact of love rooted in action—whether in marriage, friendships, or family relationships. Each time we choose to love selflessly, we reflect God’s love for us. So, the poem grew from a desire to show that love is an active commitment, not just something we feel but something we do, with faith as our foundation.

When did you first begin writing poetry?

I first began writing poetry as a young person, drawn to it as a way to express thoughts and emotions that seemed to go beyond ordinary language. Poetry gave me a language for the emotions, questions, and truths I was discovering, especially as I began to grapple with deeper spiritual themes. More recently, poetry became a form of reflection, a space where I could wrestle with life’s complexities and bring them before God, seeking understanding and purpose. Those early attempts were simple, but they opened a door to a lifelong love of crafting words in a way that could communicate not just ideas but experiences of faith, struggle, and growth. Poetry became, and remains, a way for me to process and share the journey of faith and the struggles so many of us experience in this life.

Your visual art will also be featured in our inaugural issue. How do you see your poetry and visual art as connected? Do you approach their construction similarly?

My poetry and visual art are deeply connected—they’re two expressions of the same vision, each with its own language for exploring themes of reflection, faith and the struggles in life and how resilient we can be. In poetry, I work with imagery and literary devices to evoke mood and meaning, while in visual art, I use color, form, and light to create a visual landscape that resonates on a similar emotional level. They inform and complement each other, often revealing layers that one medium alone couldn’t convey.

Over the years, I’ve created pieces where the poetry and art are side by side, each one enhancing the other. In some ways, the impact of pairing words with imagery creates a deeper, more immersive experience—both for me in the process and, hopefully, for the viewer. When the two are combined, they invite reflection in a way that feels complete and multifaceted, allowing the viewer or reader to engage with the theme from different angles. Each medium sharpens the other, and together, they provide a space for contemplation, wonder, and connection.

Your featured visual art is of impressionistic landscapes, 3 of them feature bodies of water. What significance does the water have for you as a creative?

Water has always held deep significance for me as a creative, especially in the way it interacts with light, constantly shifting between clarity and mystery. There’s something magical about how water reflects and refracts light at sunset—the surface rippling with hues of gold, pink, and deep indigo, each color as fleeting as it is beautiful. Capturing this interplay of water and light, whether in poetry or art, is a challenge that never loses its allure; it’s an attempt to hold onto a moment that is, by nature, always slipping away.

In my work, water often symbolizes change, reflection, and renewal, qualities that resonate with the creative process itself. Painting or writing about water at sunset becomes a meditation on life, struggles and faith, on the things we sense but can’t fully see—depths just beneath the surface, colors that transform with each passing second. This combination of grounding and transcendence is what keeps me returning to water as a subject. Each piece is an attempt to capture that moment when water, light, and sky meet, and in doing so, I hope to invite viewers to linger in that same sense of wonder and reflection.

For those who enjoy your work, whose work would you recommend?

My primary influences in poetry have been Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton—not so much for what they wrote but for how they approached writing, with an unvarnished honesty that brought their inner worlds to life. I admire their courage to lay bare their experiences and emotions, a quality that has inspired me to explore similar openness and vulnerability in my own work.

For visual art, I’m drawn to the Impressionists—artists like Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet, and Mary Cassatt—whose works capture the beauty of light, movement, and color in such a compelling way. Their brushstrokes, textures, and focus on the ephemeral quality of nature have shaped my approach to digital art. I’m also inspired by some of the Post-Impressionists, like Paul Cézanne who brought more structure and depth into their work while still embracing natural scenes and everyday subjects. Together, these influences inform my approach to art and poetry, helping me balance emotional truth with the technical aspects of form and color.

Read Sean’s poem, “LOVE” and view his artwork collection in dulcet Literary magazine, vol. One, Issue #1.