Becky Knighten sits at the edge of a floral couch cushion throwing herself into the conversation — literally. Her hands firework out in opposite directions, her torso leans in and out to the rhythm of her voice. It’s easy to see why she is calling her first book “Feelings.” She certainly has enough emotion churning inside of her.
“Feelings,” released on Amazon this holiday season, is a book of poems based on the many life experiences she has gone through. From deaths in the family to a loved one’s incarceration, Becky has been jotting down her feelings for 17 years and storing them away in nightstand by her bed.
“If I met someone new — I wrote it down, put it in the shoebox,” Knighten said. “If I was upset about something — I wrote it down, put it in the shoebox.”
Those poems were tucked away secretly until she met a couple employees at Florida Insurance Center were she cleaned. They had shared some of their poems with her. Inspired, she shared back. From there, she met an employee in IT, Kenneth Jameson, and had the confidence to show him her work.
Jameson, a creative soul himself, knew he had to get her poems some exposure. The photographer convinced her to collaborate.
“It was the right thing to do,” Jameson said. “There was a lot of positivity that more people can benefit from. The main thing (of the book) is to help people.”
By helping people, Jameson is referring to the unique poems in Knighten’s book that can be personalized by writing details, like names and dates, into the prose. Not all her poems can be personalized but the ones that deal with anniversaries or notes of condolences can be used at funerals or in obituaries.
“It’s for people that are going through some changes and don’t know what to say,” Knighten said.
The two started working on the publishing process in the Spring, along with Jameson’s son, Michael Jameson, who helped with promotional video materials. When she didn’t have enough poems to fill 32 pages, she sat down at Florida Insurance’s break room and wrote some more. So devoted to her work, she would wake from her dreams murmuring the words of her poems and waking her husband, Ceola Knighten Sr., during the incantation.
This month, she held her first book signing after releasing the book for the holidays.
“Let me just say, when you have a dream about something, I know why people don’t follow it,” Knighten said. “It’s like going from kindergarten to 12th grade — the courses keep getting harder. … Go until you get that final feeling.”
All the hard work has come out of a lifetime of story telling for the writer. She wrote her first poem in fifth grade, about her pet chihuahua, Ginger. Later, as a teenager, she would make up rhymes with her friends on the telephone about their day, before being kicked off by mom.
“Growing up, my family said I was always expressive about something,” Knighten said. “I always had the last word. I always had something to say. It’s part of my character. It’s who I am.”
In her adult life, poems were a way to cope with her changing world. But, she also wrote poems for loved ones, co-workers and people she met along the way for their special occasions.
“Feelings” was designed to be a mini book of poems in a 5-by-9 size to easily fit in a purse, pocket or glove compartment. It is available on Kindle, Amazon and her website, BeckySKnighten.com.
Helping through the written word
One main focus for “Feelings” is to help people find the words they want to say. But, producer Kenneth Jameson and author Becky Knighten want to help people in other ways, as well. They are hoping to start a writing input workshop. For more information, visit Knighten’s website at BeckySKnighten.com.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com