On any social media platform, you can post your innermost thoughts with a tap on a screen, hoping that someone online can relate and respond. It’s modern self-expression.
But Serena Davis's self-expression is on a different level. Instead of posting her thoughts on social media, she self-published a poetry book.
Poetry writing started as a creative outlet for Davis to let go of the emotions she was holding inside.
“If I was having a lot of anxiety, I would write what I was feeling in a poem on my Notes app—it just came out easier as a poem,” Davis said.
During Davis’s senior year at Seton Hall University, when she noticed how many poems were sitting on her phone, an idea came to her: she should publish a poetry book.
After two years of writing and editing, Davis’s book, “Read When…,” made its debut in October. According to its Amazon description, “each chapter is focused on the difficulties and successes of life, created for people to ‘read when’ they are experiencing those ups and downs of reality.”
Before poetry writing, Davis produced stories throughout her childhood. It served as a creative outlet. Her mother would bring home small spiral notebooks from work just for her to create her own stories.
“I would write, like a couple sentences and then draw something and think ‘oh my god, I'm like Picasso’—it was not Picasso, but I used to do that,” Davis said.
She kept a stack of them in her room, creating stories until she was 12 years old. In high school, Davis turned to journaling, which helped her navigate her anxiety and ADHD.
“That was my escape from everything and writing poetry in it I didn’t turn in,” Davis said.
In college, she shifted from journaling in a notebook to typing on a screen. When she would type, all the words came out in stanzas.
“My mind, the way it's wired, just thinks of my emotions and puts it into a poem. That sounds corny, but [it's] the way I think of it,” Davis said. “I have a better time writing what I feel, [than] speaking what I feel.”
How Davis expressed her emotions through poetry takes root in her complex childhood. She was raised by her mother, as her father left before she was born.
“I don’t know my other half,” Davis said. “That was a huge theme in my whole life: Who am I?”
Even though it’s been difficult at times, Davis said she feels she doesn’t need another person to prove who she is. Her father’s exit taught some hard lessons, which she’s grateful for.
“If a dad could leave his own daughter, then you really can't trust anybody. That's why I say you only have yourself at the end of the day,” Davis said. “God knew I didn't need him.”
On top of it, Davis faced other obstacles—she grew up biracial in a predominantly white area. She was one of the few Black students in her hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
“I used to actually not think I was Black. Growing up, I only felt white,” Davis said.
Because of the color of her skin, Davis was subject to stereotyping and harsh judgment at a young age.
“You know, I’ve dealt with people who were like, ‘Oh my god is that your real hair? How do you get your hair so curly?’” she recalls. “It definitely made me insecure growing up.”
Because of the things people would say, Davis forced herself to match her white peers by changing her appearance.
“I used to straighten my hair every day, wouldn’t let my curls come out,” Davis said. “I would try to shrink myself and that was not making me happy.”
In all of Davis’s hurdles, she always found comfort in God, especially when her family went to mass every Sunday. Due to her Catholic upbringing, she credits God for knowing she was strong enough to handle every obstacle.
“Through the bad, it's very calming and reassuring to know that I have God to look at, and the universe is on my side forever and always,” Davis said.
Because of the negative situations she faced in her hometown, Davis ventured out to college. She said she wanted to study journalism and Seton Hall’s program provided opportunities she wanted near New York City.
Davis credits the university with becoming open-minded as she learned about cultures and backgrounds. She said she believes the students she befriended helped her discover her Black identity—they encouraged her to participate in Black-based organizations.
“I am forever thankful [to Seton Hall] because I just feel whole,” Davis said. “I know who I am now, and I’m comfortable in my own skin. It took me 18 years.”
With her flourishing confidence in college and the reassurance that she is protected by God, Davis said she believes she became the woman her younger self needed, which inspired her poetry book.
Back in October, Davis posted a TikTok of a picture of a poem from her book—which she describes as what she owes to her younger self.
She writes, “Unfortunately time can’t rewind/And I can’t clone myself/The only thing I can do is heal her for the rest of life itself.”
Davis came up with the title of her book during her freshman year of college when one of her friends wrote her a bunch of letters with titles of “Read When You’re Happy” or “Read When You Miss Home.”
“My poems mirrored this type of idea,” Davis said. “So, then I was like I write all these poems, let me turn it into something.”
Davis’s goal has always been to write “coming of age” style poems, guiding girls in navigating life. She said she wanted her book to be a no-judgement zone.
“I wanted my book to feel like someone opening their arms to you and not making you feel judged and just comforted [as] someone else understands you,” Davis said.
This genre has come easy to Davis as she says she’s a nurturer. A close friend of hers, Neyha Ramani, said that Davis is great at giving advice, so publishing a book full of it made sense for Davis.
“She taught me a lot about positive affirmations and speaking highly of yourself,” Ramani said. “She’s very receptive to everyone’s problems, and she always listens.”
Ramani also said Davis helped her find self-confidence, and one of her favorite poems from Davis’s book reflects that idea.
“It’s the one that says, ‘Start telling yourself I’m fucking proud of me, instead of resorting to self-sabotage and the idea that you will never be good enough because, baby, you’re perfect,’” Ramani said.
Davis’s message resonates not only with Ramani but with others. Since publishing, she received a 5-star review on Amazon from someone named Tammara.
In November, Tammara wrote, “Super cute but super deep, real and relatable. I like how this book talks about things we all might feel lonesome about or discouraged about in life… this is a great universal poetry book with so many unrealized universal truths.”
Receiving a positive review like Tammara’s took a while to get. Davis endured a long editing and publishing process that she completed alone.
Last fall, after Davis organized all her poems into a Google Doc, she felt inspired to begin the self-publishing process. She decided to go through Amazon, watching videos on how to navigate the site.
“It was more trial and error,” Davis said. “Everything I learned through YouTube, but it worked.”
Davis credits The Setonian with her editing skill set. She worked on the paper all four years of college, taking positions from editor of the Campus Life section to Managing Editor of the newspaper.
“I feel like after looking at so many articles and proofreading so much stuff, your eyes are able to pick up stuff a little bit quicker than someone who’s not used to proofreading stuff,” Davis said. “I literally edited [this book] like I would edit an article.”
Credits also go to her journalism and public relations degree, which sharpened her writing skills more.
“It was just a perfect mix,” Davis said. “I feel like rules and creativity mesh together with those two majors and then mesh together for my poetry book.”
After graduating from Seton Hall, Davis moved back home to Scranton, where she works as a bank teller and waiter. She’s applying for jobs in public relations and journalism, hoping that she’ll move to a big city that’s somewhere warm.
“I'm not saying I'm going to get the career of my dreams, but a job that I really, really want and I'm going to move with that,” Davis said.
Regardless of her career hiatus, Davis still finds a way to stay positive.
“I have a life envisioned and I’m gonna execute it and that’s why every day I show up as the best version of myself because I know I deserve everything I dreamed of,” Davis said.
Dominique Mercadante is the head editor for The Setonian’s Campus Life section. She can be reached at dominique.mercadante@student.shu.edu.
