when people ask how i got into poetry, i don’t really know how to answer...because poetry found me.
I’ve always been a writer. I wrote for the school newspaper when I was ten and started delivering newspapers on my bike around the neighborhood at that same time (yes, the actual old, paper newspapers, on a bike. alone. it was the 90s lol). I started writing songs when I was fifteen and through my teen years I filled countless journals with all my deepest, darkest thoughts. I later burned every single one of them so no one could ever read them.
Now I put all of my deepest, darkest thoughts into poetry books for the entire world to read.
When I got married in 2011 at twenty-three (omg, I know), the writing stopped because I knew that writing told me the truth and the truth was: I stayed an entirety of “too long” in a marriage that was slowly killing me. But writing is what brought me back to life. Sometime around 2018, I started writing again: poetry this time. It’s like writing song lyrics but without the music.
In January 2020, with the encouragement of my Instagram friends and followers, I independently published my first poetry book, Still Growing Wildflowers. Shortly after that I separated from my then-husband and moved into an apartment in June 2020. It was here where I wrote my second poetry book, The Lovers, and published her in 2021. Then, as a thirty-five, single mother of two wolves (the human kind), my third poetry book, Made of Earth, came to life in 2022.
As I’m writing this, it’s a late Sunday night with a glass of wine next to me. I’m still a single mom in that same apartment with my two sons, waiting for the laundry to be done. And it’s been one month since I published my fourth (and honestly, favorite) poetry collection: The Worst of Me. Looking back over the last three and a half years I am so grateful to every one of you for reading and sharing these books. Without you, they wouldn’t exist.
Thank you for being here for the journey.
with love,
alisha
As a poet, I’ve come to realize that my poetry is not just a reflection of my life experiences, but a reflection of our collective human experience: both the brutal and the beautiful.
People ask me this question all the time! Just click through to How to Self Publish a Poetry book and you can read a bit about the process.
If you're brand new to my poetry, you should start with Still Growing Wildflowers and read through the whole series! Otherwise, pick up the one that you feel most drawn to. You can read more about the books here!
I started sharing my poetry on Instagram under my username, Where She Grows. Because of the themes in my first book, I wanted to have some sort of anonymity, but as time has gone on, I'm proud to have my name attached to these books.
when alisha isn't writing you can find her:
in her bare feet / taking terrible selfies / making a margarita / dancing with the demons / catching toads / catching fireflies / picking up snakes / laying in the grass under the rain and having an existential crisis at two am / floating in a body of water / (still alive) / paddling on a lake with her wolves / chasing the sky (including, but not limited to: sunrises, the sunset, the moon, thunderstorms, and rainbows) / basking in the sun / soaking up live music / etc.
still growing wildflowers
themes
Poems of loss, grief, and healing from childhood trauma.
on amazon
read more
the
lovers
themes
A poetry book about self-love and growth.
on amazon
read more
made of
earth
themes
Poetry about healing from childhood trauma, toxic relationships, and breaking cycles.
on amazon
read more
the worst
of me
themes
A soul-stirring poetry collection about love, life, and losing yourself.
on amazon
read more
the worst of me
This poetry book is both heartbreaking and heart-strengthening. It gives words to the raw emotions that we feel on the rollercoaster of healing. It's not linear and it's not always pretty. Alisha's words are raw, beautiful and so relatable! The format of this book is amazing and adds to the realness and vulnerability of it all. There is room for YOU not just her words.
-adelyn
the worst of me
This entire series has shifted my mindset and helped me dive into myself and the world around me and my own interactions with my past present and future self. Very much worth the read over and over, lend it to a friend, buy it for a loved one, and open your mind in your relationships personal romantic, and even as a parent.
-ashley
still growing wildflowers
When writing truly touches your soul in this way it is an experience like no other. Knowing you are not alone and that surviving the hardest things is not only possible but can lead to the most amazing places you have ever been. I hope to be there too someday. Thank you for sharing this with the world. It makes all the difference to those who are on their own journey still of breaking...healing...letting go...being made new. Wherever this path takes me she is coming too and I am grateful to have her by my side helping me fight.
-carrie
still growing wildflowers
This is poetic cinema. Borne of seeds planted by hurt and abuse and religious trauma; blooming into a wildflower garden where the author sees weeds as what they truly are - new life and perspectives coming up through situations where we’re told nothing good can ever grow. She turns “just a weed” into milkweed for herself to give life to butterflies. You will cry, laugh, and relate to more than you even think possible because we are all still growing wildflowers.
-aubrey
made of earth
Alisha has once again delivered a poetry book that sculpts words into art to bring some of a woman's deepest, most poignant feelings and emotions to life. She captured the raw essence of womanhood, not shying back from her sensual side but celebrating it as an important facet of her authentic whole self. This poetry will speak to any woman who has loved, who has lost, who has wondered if love is even worth it and will remind you gently that always, love is always worth it, especially when that love is directed towards yourself.
-lacey
still growing wildflowers
I’m in love with this series. Watching the author’s growth in her healing and self worth takes you on a journey in your own. This book is about breaking free, saying the words out loud that you’ve longed to say for too long, and grabbing ahold of the life you deserve to live. Make sure you grab all of Alisha’s books, because they just get better and better. You won’t regret it.
-randina
✦ 2021 "Best of KC" Best Local Author Runner Up ✦
✦ Best Poetry Book of 2021 by Poetry Rise (Still Growing Wildflowers) ✦
✦ Number 1 “New Release” in Family Poetry Jan. 2022 (Made of Earth) ✦
✦ Number 1 Best Seller in Australia & Oceana Poetry Feb. 2023 (Still Growing Wildflowers) ✦
on the socials @whereshegrows
✦ Listen to my very first interview with Allie from the Things Like That podcast ✦