A poem written in high school begins with blue. Years later, another poem returns to the same color and finds more there. Those two pieces sit near the beginning of How a Voice Takes Shape, a new selection from the Wiley’s Walk archive.
A voice takes shape through more than writing. It is influenced by who listens, who questions, who encourages, and by the experiences that gradually clarify what matters enough to say.
These six pieces return to some of those influences: early poetry, teachers, family, and Denise DiNoto’s encouragement when Wiley’s Walk was still an idea. They also reflect how personal experience gradually opened into larger questions about access, inclusion, and participation.
Early writing and encouragement
Finding Solace in Words
After a move during high school, Mrs. D.’s English class became a place where my writing received serious attention. Her encouragement led me to work more closely on my poetry and seek publication.
Author’s Note: Mrs. D. took the writing seriously and helped make publication seem possible. Her encouragement influenced how the poetry was revised and eventually led to the decision to submit it. This essay returns to the classroom where that possibility was first recognized.
KAW
“Black and Blue” and “Whispers of Blue and Black”
“Black and Blue” was written in high school. Decades later, “Whispers of Blue and Black” responded to the earlier poem.
Blue appears in both poems, written decades apart. In one, it is linked to how the speaker is perceived. In the other, it becomes part of how she presents herself. The color remains, but what it carries is no longer the same.
Author’s Note: This work offers a glimpse of where the writing began. “Whispers of Blue and Black” returns to some of the same ideas from another point in life, when they no longer look quite the same.
KAW
Voice Unbound: Rediscovering and Reclaiming My True Voice
A teacher once questioned whether the work I submitted was really mine. This essay looks back on that moment and considers how it affected my confidence in sharing my writing, and how that confidence changed with time.
Author’s Note: What helps a person keep trusting their own voice when someone else sees it differently?
KAW
Family and the beginning of Wiley’s Walk
Between Paths and Pages
My family and others close to me have influenced both the experiences I write about and how I understand them. This essay looks particularly at my brothers and the different perspectives they bring to my life.
Author’s Note: This piece reflects on how family can bring different perspectives to the same experience.
KAW
Standing Firm: Honoring the Life and Legacy of Denise DiNoto
Denise DiNoto and I shared an interest in writing. When I was considering starting Wiley’s Walk, she offered guidance and encouraged me to continue. This remembrance also considers how she approached advocacy and the people she worked alongside.
Author’s Note: Denise offered guidance when Wiley’s Walk was still an idea. Her encouragement was specific and generous, and her approach to advocacy left an impression that extended beyond the decision to start a blog. This piece remembers both.
KAW
Writing about participation
Making Participation the Rule
Wiley’s Walk began with personal experience and gradually opened into broader questions about access and participation. This essay considers how decisions made beyond the individual can shape both.
Author’s Note: As Wiley’s Walk developed, the writing began to move beyond individual experience and toward the larger questions around it. This essay comes from that point in the series.
KAW
About this collection
One teacher urged me to keep writing. Another questioned whether the work I handed in was mine. Each left a different mark on how I understood my writing and what it meant to share it.
The early poems and classroom experiences are part of how confidence, perspective, and expression took shape. Encouragement gave the writing room to continue. Doubt introduced a different question: whether the work would be accepted as mine when I chose to share it.
Those early experiences did not define the writing, but they became part of its foundation. The subjects changed, new questions entered the work, and Wiley’s Walk grew into a place to examine experience, develop ideas, and express a point of view without losing what made the work feel like mine.
Looking back, the connection between the early poems and the work that followed is easier to see. The impulse was already there: to notice, to question, to shape an idea carefully, and to put it into words.
There is encouragement in that for readers too. Confidence can grow. Perspective can become clearer. Expression can change with experience. Growth does not require giving up the parts of oneself that were there at the beginning.
For readers who care about inclusion, access, and participation, I hope these pieces raise a quieter question: what is worth holding onto, revisiting, and seeing differently with time?
Thank you for reading and for supporting Wiley’s Walk.
KAW
Join the conversation. Your thoughts and experiences are welcome.