Edwin Freeman Talks Enlightenment

I’m at a point where I want to share my poems with the world, because I believe that there’s someone, somewhere who’s wrestling with some of the same issues that I was at the time that I created them

[Books]

Last time we spoke with actor Edwin Freeman he discussed his upcoming film and television projects. We recently caught up again to speak about his recently self-published collection of poems “titled Enlightenment.”

BSN: Hey Edwin nice speaking with you again, so now you recently self-published your first collection of poems. Can you tell us what inspired you to write the poems, and why you chose the theme for the collection that you did?
EF: As always the pleasure is all mine’s. I wrote these poems during a period in my life where I was going through a lot of outer turmoil. I was in my early twenties and a lot of  my friends were dying or getting sent to prison, I was making that transition from teenager to young adult and I had a lot on my mind. I was basically searching for answers in life, answers that I couldn’t find externally, so I was forced to turn inward for my answers. I basically settled down, went into a quiet space, did some soul searching and started to write down my thoughts, the result was this collection of poems that I titled “Enlightenment: An Inward Journey Through Life’s Rough Terrain”.

BSN: How many poems in total did you write for the book, and how did you go about which ones to use in the book?
EF: Originally I had over a hundred poems, which ended up getting narrowed down to twenty nine poems. I basically took the poems that I thought were more relevant to the title and what I was trying to present and went with those. I plan on publishing the rest of the poems at a later date. I’m at a point where I want to share my poems with the world, because I believe that there’s someone, somewhere who’s wrestling with some of the same issues that I was at the time that I created them and
through my writings they may be able to find some of the answers that they are searching for or at least get lead in the right direction.

BSN: Which poems took you the longest to create?
EF: As I just stated, I wrote these poems at a time where a lot was happening in my life. I was losing a lot of friends to death and prison, my uncle Melvin D. Freeman who I dedicated the book to had just passed away and I was at a breaking point in my life, where my only choice was to turn inward or end up dead or in jail myself. I chose to focus my energies inward and I created this body of work over a period of eight to twelve months.

BSN: Which was your favorite poem to write?
EF: To be completely honest with you, I don’t have a particular favorite. They are all my thoughts, how I feel about different situations. Some happy, some gloomy, others fall somewhere in between, but all of them are very introspective. I simply recorded my thoughts, put them into poetry form and published them for the world to see, they are all very personal to me.

BSN: Who are some of the poets who have inspired you and your work?
EF: Some of my favorite poets are Khalil Gibran, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks, Alice Walker and my personal favorite Sister Helen out of Brooklyn, New York. These are the poets that inspired me
and my work the most, because their poems are so profound.

BSN: What made you approach Danene Rey to write the foreword for the book?
EF: Danene Rey is a childhood friend of mine’s, who is a writer in his own right. I asked him to write the foreword to the book, because I felt that he of all people could relate to what I was dealing with at the time that I wrote it and he would more than anyone else understand what I was trying to communicate to the world through my writings. I asked if he would write the foreword, he agreed to do so and the rest is pretty much history.

BSN: What message would you like readers to come away with after reading your collection?
EF: That no matter what you’re going through or what you’re faced with in life, the Creator already provided the answers. All you have to do is settle down, look deep inside of yourself and you will find the answers. Whatever they may be, when you do you will be enlightened, because that’s what enlightenment is all about, self-discovery. I believe that things whether we perceive them as good or bad, take place in our outer-lives, so that we will look within and become familiar with ourselves, our real-selves, the Supreme life force that’s present in each and every one of us. Which if you look closely was the Universal message of all of the enlightened teachers that the Creator sent to the world to help redeem fallen humanity.

To purchase a copy of “Enlightenment” www.lulu.com/product/ebook/enlightenment/14265441
 

“Speaking Truth To Empower.”

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