Local poet featured at Wednesday Night Poetry
Hot Springs poet Phantasy will be the featured presenter at this week’s Wednesday Night Poetry, which starts at 6:30 p.m. at Kollective Coffee+Tea, 110 Central Ave.
The regular open mic session for all poets will be followed by Phantasy at 7 p.m., then a second open mic. Admission is free and open to all ages.
A native of Royal, Phantasy began writing when he was 7, a news release said. He was known as Paul Harden Jr. “My mother encouraged me to write because I had so many things to say. She noticed that I would write down things she told me about love and how a man was supposed to treat a woman. She was the one who showed me the art of rhyme. From there I wrote all kinds of love poems and read them to her in the kitchen. She was the only person I had the courage to say my poems to.”
When Phantasy was 16, his mother died, unexpectedly. “It was the most painful thing I’ve ever dealt with. That night she passed away, my father chose a different life that didn’t include me,” said Phantasy. “I became an orphan, a ward of the court. It took my writing to a very dark place. No talking about love, just hurt and pain until I made a choice not to write anymore.”
Several years later, Phantasy started composing poetry again. But this time it was not on paper, but in his mind. “I would keep repeating the poem over and over in my head until I knew it well enough to perform it,” said Phantasy in the release. “I have come to feel that paper limits the artist. If you know there is an end to this piece of paper or a line on it, does that mean your heart is done speaking?”
Phantasy estimates he has 25 poems ready to perform at any moment from memory.
A 2007 graduate of Lake Hamilton High School, Phantasy went on to attend Arkansas State University as a psychology major and served in the U.S. Army for five years as a petroleum supply specialist. It was while he was in the Army that Phantasy truly got back into composing poetry. “Because of the army, I was able to perform my poetry in lots of different venues in Wisconsin, Virginia, California, South Carolina, Texas and Louisiana.”
Phantasy has returned home after 10 years. “When I was 18, I couldn’t wait to get out of here. I’ve traveled around and seen a lot. It sure is good to be home.”
Now that he’s home, Phantasy has a new aspiration. He wants to be a fireman. Currently he is preparing to take the test next year.