Word Up To Ami Hanna

I met Ami Hanna via  She-Writes a fantastic writing network.

We started chatting and as I found out more about Ami’s life I realised I was talking to yet another person who lives  by the philosophy that the “grass is greener where you water it”

Ami’s particular story is of overcoming major adversity by finding a unique form of creative expression.

I found her story very inspirational and asked if she could share it here:

The Grass is Pretty Green

By Ami Hanna

I realized I had hit bottom one February night as I lay in the top bunk of the medical dorm in the Salt Lake City (SLC) homeless shelter.

I was detoxing and staring at the glare from the cop lights flashing on the walls.

My boyfriend had committed suicide 3 years prior, and I had attempted to cover my pain from his loss by developing a severe heroin and cocaine habit.

My view of escapism eventually cost me my house, my business, my relationships with family and friends, and almost my life.

It was a long bumpy slide down to the homeless shelter, but it took me losing everything to realize that the most important aspect of life was my ability to express myself.

Writing poetry was my rehab, and my process for healing.

Every day for 6 months, I would walk a block and a half from the shelter to a local coffee shop and dictate from my heart.

However,I knew it wasn’t enough for me to just write, I had to share my words.

Although this terrified me, I considered the alternative.

What if I never had the opportunity to speak from my heart?

This was by far more frightening, so I began to perform my poetry.

I found that by giving my pain a voice, I gave permission to those that listened to do the same. A community of poets and musicians began to form up around our words of rebirth and within a few months, we had a thriving poetry performance scene emerging in SLC.

I began a music/poetry open mic at a coffee shop called Addicted (how’s that for irony) due to the fact they had an upright piano.

Prior to having been a professional drug addict, I was an improvisational pianist.

Now that I was creating again, my soul was screaming out for the piano.

The music and poetry collaborations that converged in this venue became the genesis for my current career incarnation; spoken word musician.

My intention for my poetry and music is to shine light on issues within our culture that have a tendency to be glossed over, and thereby uplift these issues into social consciousness so that they may be reborn.

Words create reality, and expressing them creates universes.

It’s been two and a half years since that night in the shelter when I realized I hit bottom.

I just created an open mic and poetry workshop for LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) youth in order to help facilitate growing voices find an avenue for expression.

The coming year is lined up with many opportunities, such as performing in the Utah Arts Festival and releasing my first self produced album, Raw Xtract. I have a beautiful toddler in my new little family, and a perfect little yellow house.

The view to my back yard shows the spring beginnings of my green grass, but no matter where I stand, I take the time to realize that the grass is always pretty green right where I am. The alternative doesn’t exist.

Check out Ami’s incredibly inspiring spoken word music here