A look back on April…

My dear friend Sarah Howe O’Brien was the feature poet for April’s Poetry on the Coast event. She has a published book titled, ‘Is God enough?’ And she shared excerpts from that. It was pretty special to open such a spiritual conversation at a community event! We must be bold if we’re going to reach the questioning souls of this generation! 

In last month’s blog I mentioned preparation for Easter Camp, and on the first weekend of April I achieved probably my biggest creative feat yet. I shared spoken word poetry four times across the weekend to an audience of 1300 people. They were all original, Sonya Cossey Creative crafted pieces of poetry, written to the specific theme of each day of the camp. I calculated it was 12 & 1/2 minutes of memorised content that I performed in total, and I also presented an inter-active work shop on worshipping through creativity. 

On top of that I was at camp as a youth leader for KIC – so it was a big weekend!

We arrived at camp on Thursday afternoon and by the time I’d shared my final piece on Sunday evening, I was tired. I lay on my back on the artificial grass behind the stage and allowed the tears to flow. 

There were tears of grief, confusion and joy all jumbled in together. There were tears of relief. Proud-of-myself tears. Grateful tears. Humbled tears. Exhausted tears. Hopeful tears. Tears of commitment and tears of sacrifice. Encompassed-by-love tears. 

I received plenty of positive feed back throughout the weekend on my poetry and quote, ‘world-class performance’. It was encouraging for sure! What I found interesting was that as I reflected on the camp, though I totally loved sharing Jesus through poetry and getting to work with such high quality production and music teams, my favourite moments were the ones off the stage. The prayers and prophetic pictures with the young people from my church’s youth group. I saw young lives open up to freedom and hope in those moments and there’s nothing else quite like it. 

There’s still a place for my performance poetry. I know it has an impact. I know it turned hearts to Jesus and gave space for the big feels and difficult questions. I’m just glad that my eyes have been opened to the deep significance that is also in the quiet conversations, the gentle prayers, the consistent love and care that comes when you commit to journeying with a group of people. It felt like that was the real gold. 

The weekend after camp, I had been invited to share at Grace Fellowship – a monthly church gathering led by the Filipino community in Kāpiti. It was special to share my Easter poems again, in a totally different context, and to share some Scripture and key thoughts with each one. It added a layer of depth and personal connection when I presented them in this way. People particularly responded to the Saturday piece on the ‘swirling space of uncomfortable’ that we often come by in life. I was able to pray and minister with people which was beautiful. 

It seems that April was a big month, as I also released a single to Spotify and a video on Facebook and YouTube for my piece, “And Yet, Love”. You can see it here.

With the single release comes an ANNOUNCEMENT: I have signed to a NZ based record label – Lost By Design – who are going to support the release of my spoken word poetry! 

Check out my artist page on their website here. 

Always grateful for strategic partnerships and building support networks and team.

Final note, back in March I saw an opportunity advertised for part time work in a local store that imports and sells Fair Trade goods and on a whim I applied… I ended up landing the job and have taken on some permanent hours at the store! This has been a big blessing of provision and still leaves me plenty of hours in the week for artistry and mission, while being a bit more plugged into my community and doing some really meaningful work. 

It does mean I’m less flexible in being able to travel for events, but as you’ve seen if you’ve followed the journey thus far, I’ve been so blessed by committing to my local community and this feels like just another way to be an artist-in-mission. 

Grace & peace, 
Sonny 

Per usual, the year is zooming by, and here I am writing an update on March’s happenings in the life of an Artist in Mission! 

I’m happy to say there has been progress on a few of my goals, including having completed filming for a new spoken word video that will be released soon for my poem ‘And Yet Love’. It was a total God-provision that a friend from church who works in video production for their job was available and willing to donate time to do this. I just love how supportive people in my KIC community are! 

The third and fourth weeks of Worship & the Arts evenings took place and I came away from that 4-week initiative with a mixture of reflections on what worked and what didn’t, how I would do it differently in the future, and a hard look at my expectations on myself and others. You never know how something new will look until you give it a whirl and let it unfold the way it needs to. There was lots of learning for me on that journey.

A big attraction for me to live this floaty, flexible, free-lance life was that my husband, Dan, currently travels a lot for work and we both agree those trips are more fun when I join in on them! Dan’s work this month took us to the lower South Island for two weeks, to places like Queenstown, Milford Sound, Te Anau, Aoraki, and Ōmarama. I had some blissful days soaking up sights while writing, editing and memorising poems.

There were also some stressful days thrown in the mix when all the work logistics turned to madness due to weather and other uncontrollable factors, but we muddled through and made the most of our time in Te Waipounamu. 

You can read some of the poems I penned in pretty places over at the Poem-A-Day section of my blog. 

Most of my time on the trip was spent working on my spoken word pieces for Central Easter Camp which I’ll be performing at next weekend. It’s always fun to use poetry in telling the story of Jesus, and communicating some of those big feelings like grief, confusion, and joy. 

It amazes me how God tends to speak to me through my own poems. While I’ve been memorising and rehearsing these Easter pieces, there have been moments when what I’m saying suddenly hits my spirit and tears spring up. When you commit writing to memory, it gets deeper into your being. I would describe it like it moves from being just words in your head, to being a message that is alive in your body. 

I hope I can present a living message of hope to the young people who attend Easter Camp, and I look forward to sharing stories on next month’s blog about what Holy Spirit does through these poems and the conversations that follow them. 

Until then… 

Grace & peace,

Sonny

Reflecting on February, it’s been an “event-full” month! 

I kick-started a new venture, Poetry on the Coast. The idea was to mimic what I’d enjoyed in Wellington City at Poetry in Motion where they have an open mic followed by a feature poet. I had no real certainty about who would come to such an event, however, having done some market research and talking to the right people, I knew that there are a lot of poets and writers in Kāpiti and that gatherings of a similar nature have been successful in the past, so I committed and watched magic unfold…

The turn out was above and beyond what I had imagined with 10 open mic poets, 3 feature poets, and over 40 in attendance, so many that people were standing around the edges of the cafe, and sitting on cushions on the floor! 

With such a great response, I have committed to running this as a monthly event (First Tuesday of each month), at least from now through until June. If you’re local and want to keep up with details on this, the best way to do so is to follow @poetryonthecoast on Instagram or flick me your e-mail address and let me know you want to be on the Poetry on the Coast database. 

Our next POTC event is on March 7th, 7pm at Raumati Social Club and all koha raised is being donated toward the Cyclone Relief Fund for the Wairoa District. 

Feb also included the Pickle Pot Be-In which is a Festival run by youth for youth in Paekakariki. I was a last minute addition to the line up and had the opportunity to share a 15-minute set of poems. This was one of my favourite performances EVER! 

It was so fun to put together a set list that was a real mix of my work and to tell stories and make connections and links between each one. The Festival was attended by such open-minded, open-hearted people and the aroha from the audience when I shared was so real and encouraging. 

Continuing with the event theme, in my role of Artist-in-Mission at Kāpiti Impact Church I have initiated a 4-week creative burst! Each Thursday night I’m hosting a space at the Hub for people to come and create in the Presence. 

There has been prophetic drawing, rock-painting, poems penned, mindful colouring, sketches done for the first time in months and much more. We have two more Thursdays to go and it’s been a really peaceful, creative, fun, enlightening journey so far! 

I recognise that I’m in a very privileged position to be spending majority of my time in my creative practise, and that’s not the case for so many, so my heart behind these Worship & the Arts evenings is to clear space for the artistic expressions to happen. The main feed back I’ve had so far (from numerous attendees) was, “I’m so glad I came, I never would have sat and done this at home, there are too many distractions and other things vying for my attention.” 

There’s a certain theme with the above February happenings (aside from events). Have you seen it? 

All my work this month has been focused in Kāpiti, where God currently has me planted. 

When I set out to pursue Sonya Cossey Creative as a business and/or ministry, I thought I would be travelling the country, speaking and performing at events and churches and camps nation-wide… and yet all the doors I thought I had to that have been slammed shut, and I found my gaze turned ever so gently to see the opportunities right on my door step. So here I am, investing in and loving this place and so grateful to be here. 

This is not what I envisioned. It’s better. Yahweh’s plan always seems to unfold that way… 

Grace & peace, 
Sonny 

Here we are seven months into my dedicated year of being a poet! 

I did the natural thing of reflecting at New Years, though for me it felt much more like a mid-year review than the beginning of a New Year, being that I launched into this creative phase in June. 

My review led me to some goal setting for the next 6 months. Some of these goals I know I’ll be able to achieve and some others are a bit ambitious but keep me moving! 

Here they are: 

1. Fulfil my KIC contract deliverables 
2. Produce a video for my poem ‘And Yet, Love’ 
3. Run Poetry on the Coast open mic event 
4. Print my first poetry book 
5. Write a new spoken word piece for Unashamed events
6. Perform at Central Easter Camp 
7. Send monthly supporter e-mails and blog posts 
8. Share ‘These Three’ at 5 more churches 
9. Write mission/vision pieces for 3 more organisations 
10. Earn equivalent of 3 days wages per week

Putting my goals out in the open, means that you might see me fail. But I’ve become a lot more comfortable with that than I ever have been before. I will try, even if it doesn’t result in what myself or others deem as success. The journey is worth it.

I’m not currently in a hustle mentality where I need to push and strive and grind to achieve these goals. I find myself relating to the concept of ‘do not rest from work, rather work from a place of rest’. [apologies, I cannot remember who that quote is from, I came across it somewhere in a book or podcast!]

It feels so good to be active again, like in my role as Artist-in-Mission and in publishing daily poems on my blog and speaking at events. I am really enjoying what I do and am giving myself to it, yet I am not exhausted or drained and I am not rushed. 

This is a major life revolution from where I was at this time last year! 

Praise God that I now have rhythms of work, play and rest that serve me and my community well. 

Thanks for following the journey thus far and here’s to achieving some great things between now and June, or at least giving it a shot and being grateful for the process! 

Stay the course, friends. 

Grace & peace,

Sonny 

It’s Christmas season! I have loved baking gingerbread cookies, hanging decorations and soaking up carols and Christmas songs. My husband bought me a choccy advent calendar which was such a nostalgic and sweet surprise. 

My second Mum, Ibu Jenny, invited me to share a spoken word poem at the Wellington Indonesian Christmas celebration. This was such a fun time seeing Indonesian people come together with singing, laughter, and LOTS of makanan (food). I learnt an introduction in the Indonesian language to say before sharing my poem and I was probably the most nervous I’ve been to perform in quite some time! Partly due to the mihi in Indonesian, and also knowing that many in the room were Muslim or non-Christian and would not necessarily see Christmas as being about Jesus, certainly not about him being the Light of the World and the Son of God. It was a great opportunity to share that though and one I saw as both an honour and a challenge.

In the past month a few developments have occurred for me within my adventure of being a full time writer which have been a massive blessing.

One is that UNASHAMED Charitable Trust have brought me under their umbrella as a contracted creative, getting behind me with financial support and giving me opportunities for outreach and performance to help in their vision of seeing every young person in Aotearoa reached with the message of Jesus. I’m stoked to be involved with them, and to write some new spoken word pieces that can reach the younger generation with hope and purpose. It also means that financial contributors can donate toward my work and get their tax back, win-win! 

The second is that I was offered a contracted role on the staff of Kāpiti Impact Church (my tribe who have loved and supported me since I moved to the region!) They have employed me as an Artist-in-Mission. What a dream! If you read my first post on this blog you’ll notice that I spoke about being a ‘Mission Artist’. The spin around on the words is to paint a picture of being an Artist-in-Residence.

“Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space and resources to support their artistic practice.”  [source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist-in-residence]

Essentially I’m working in the space as an Artist, with the intent to inspire and empower others to use their creative gifts in our place of worship and throughout their lives. I also get to use my writing in the area of communications and I get to listen to peoples stories, and help shine a light on those stories of impact within our community. It’s a really special role and I’m excited to see what Yahweh does through it between now and July. 

So being a bit reflective, I can see how my first three months (June, July, August) were about restoration. Slowing down, rest, recovery. September, October, and November have been about foundations and relationships, coming to a place where I now have new content, and I belong on teams who have my back. I get the sense that these next months will be times of sharing that which has been built. 

I already have a few bookings lined up, but if you know of churches or youth groups around Aotearoa that you think would benefit from having me speak or run a workshop, would you join in the journey and be a connector? I’d so value it if you could recommend me, get the word out about my poetry and story-based prophetic message ‘These Three’, and partner with this creative ministry that is ready to bloom.

Grace & peace,

Sonny

I hope you realise that if you have big dreams, you are able to achieve them!

I had a dream of writing a 30-minute presentation, a Letter to the Church, that would have spoken word poetry woven throughout a prophetic message, held together with stories and Scripture, led by Holy Spirit. I dreamed that it would find its place in churches instead of a traditional preacher sharing a sermon. I dreamed it would touch peoples souls: their mind, will and emotions. I dreamed it would move people to connection with the Divine in a visceral way that mere head knowledge cannot. I dreamed it would bring healing and hope. 

My dream came true! 

On November 6th, 2022, I shared ‘These Three’ at both Hope Church, Levin and Kāpiti Impact Church, Paraparaumu. They were two different experiences and yet both so meaningful and significant. 

I am not only a poet and a writer. I have branched into being a speaker, an oratory communicator. 

My dream didn’t come true because of luck or circumstance. It came into being because I worked hard and prayed hard for it. I spent hours writing and editing poetry and flow of conscious. I wrote daily about the message theme (a huge amount of the content written, never went into the final Letter). I do vocal exercises to ensure my voice range and depth is dynamic and won’t tire out too easily. I rehearsed the motions of where and when I would stand and sit, working out each transition. I spent entire days set aside for communion with God, drenching myself in His presence so that I could carry it with me. I read Scriptures, ensuring that the message I felt in my heart, aligned with the Truth in the Word. I memorised my poems and my message, so that I wouldn’t be tied up in notes, but could engage and maintain eye contact with the people in the room.

Perhaps I have natural talent for performance and speaking… But I can tell you openly – that is not all it takes! 

In addition to the above, it takes meaningful relationship and team-work. Collaboration with the beautiful people from UNASHAMED, Hope Levin, and Kāpiti Impact Church was also paramount to dream-achieving. Not to mention the beautiful support of my husband, and my wider family and friends. Thank you, all. 

I feel simultaneously humbled and empowered after sharing what I’d been working on for so many months. I’m praying this is only the beginning! 

To close, a few words I penned the day afterwards…

‘Tired but inspired
Exhausted but excited’

…I hope you realise that if you have big dreams, you are able to achieve them!

Grace & peace,
Sonny 

Another month flies by and within it I have written poetry, performed poetry, read poetry… Basically I’m out here being a REAL LIFE POET! My favourite thing about this past month, has been connecting into Poetry In Motion at the Fringe Bar in Wellington. This event happens once a month and generally has an open mic time followed by a feature poet performance. In September I went along and sat in the back row and just absorbed, got the lay of the land, felt the vibes (all the weird and wonderful). 

My creative voice is quite different to those who shared that night, but it was such a supportive,  inclusive group of people that I felt I could contribute the next time… The first Thursday of October rolled around, and in that month I had written a number of new, raw pieces. A writer friend and I rocked up to The Fringe early and got our names on the open mic list. My brave self jumped up on that stage in front of a room of strangers and shared things that I could only ever say in poetry form. 

The three short poems I chose to share were titled:

Little Baby Cry
Made New
To All The Poor Poets

It was extremely liberating for me to share my writing in this environment, where there were no expectations for what my content should be or sound like. There were no preconceptions of who I was, my background, my persona. I was able to be fully myself because I’d seen the courage of others doing the same. 

When I’ve told people in Christian circles that I’m going into the city to do poetry in a bar once a month, they’re all so supportive of this ‘outreach’. They are stoked that, ‘you’re being light in such a dark place, and bringing Truth where there is so much distortion and lies.’ I understand where they’re coming from when they say this. It’s valid that there is a lot of talk of depression, pain, suicidal thoughts, death fantasies, and messiness. It’s also valid that I want to be a voice of hope, freedom, love, acceptance, and peace within that. However, I don’t personally see this new space I’ve found as simply an ‘outreach endeavour’. I don’t want to make converts or change people from who they are to who I think they should be. I’m in that space, to receive. 

As backwards as that may sound to some people, I recognise that the poets I’m interacting with have a certain level of freedom and boldness that I have yet to obtain (and also talent and experience and excellence in writing that is SO inspiring!). It would be so amazing if we build relationship and have opportunities to talk about Spirituality and even belief in Jesus, but honestly that’s not my agenda. I’m there to grow as a poet and person. Perhaps with time, we will receive from each other the different versions of freedom we hold. Wouldn’t that be a beautiful transaction? 

Grace & peace,

Sonny

I’ve been outside of conventional employment for exactly 3 months today. When I first resigned my job I didn’t really know what would come next, I just knew it was time for a change. I had to place trust that the right situation would find me. A part of me hoped that someone would hear I had finished my role and would head-hunt me for some amazing job. In part I expected to be snapped up into employment without any effort. Yet at the same time, I knew my heart and mind needed rest, low-stress, low-responsibility, space to re-balance and re-calibrate after a hectic season. These past three months have been exactly that. 

“The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.”

(An excerpt from a poem by King David)

That verse has been rolling around in my heart these past three months. He’s given me rest, peace, restoration. He’s led me gently by his voice. He’s supplied everything I needed. Literally, we’ve been blessed by expected bills being paid for us, food being donated, meals out being shouted. I was at an event recently and someone asked what I do, I told them I’m a poet and they replied, “Oh that’s great! But we both know there’s no money in that, so what do you actually do?” The comment stung a little, but only because it’s true!  So far, in three months, I’ve made a total of $150, which legally will be taxed, so really I’ve made $134.25. Ha! I’m not begging on the streets because I have a wonderful husband who works extremely hard to provide for this family. 

I guess I’ve gone down this track in this blog post, because it’s at this point that I’m starting to jump on TradeMe and look for jobs. I’m starting to doubt if I can sustain this role of being a writer and a poet. I’m questioning God on how long He wants me in this space, and if my blessed time of lying down in green pastures beside still waters may be coming to a close. 

I’m willing to work hard! I’m willing to throw my whole self into the tasks in front of me. I just can only do so if I have peace that I’m where Yahweh wants me. Which leads me to question – do I complicate my life choices by being overly concerned with what ‘the will of God’ is? I want to walk in step with the Spirit. I want to put time and energy into the things She’s breathing on. 

I want to be a poet, and not see my husband stressed about our finances at the same time! 

I’m documenting the reality and the honest questions of this journey so that together we can look back and marvel at how God provides and His kind faithfulness.

In review – I’m grateful for my soul being restored, I’m passionate about my role of vocational poet, and I’m open to seeing miracles in the journey ahead! 

Grace & peace,

Sonny

My ancestry is from England, however I was born and raised in beautiful Aotearoa, land of the long white cloud. For many years, I have felt a call of what I label ‘Mission Artist’ on my life. In 2018 I attended an international missions conference to seek out where I should be to outwork that call. The conference was in Spain, the literal opposite side of the globe, as far from home as I could physically travel. During my time there I stood in front of a huge world map, with hundreds of other people, all of us asking God where He desired us to share the hope of Jesus. I found myself in front of my homeland, and heard an inaudible whisper, “First to Aotearoa, and then beyond her shores.” I came home and haven’t left this nation since, believing that He’s called me to let my roots grow deeper. To invest in and love and reach people here. 

I’ve already mentioned Jesus – it doesn’t take me long to get talking about the one I love most! Unashamedly my hope and trust is in Him. The Jewish man who claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God. I wasn’t alive thousands of years ago to meet him while he was in Israel, or to see him killed on a Roman cross, or to verify if his tomb was really empty. I only have faith that these things happened. Faith paired with the experience of feeling known and held by God. Faith paired with seeing people who were in pain healed when we declared restoration in the name of Jesus. Faith paired with hundreds of answered prayers. Faith paired with freedom from the guilt of what I’ve done and the shame of who I was. Faith paired with hope for my future, and eternal life. Faith paired with love for God and humanity. 

I set out to write this post to give you a bit of background on and an introduction to ‘Sonya Cossey Creative’ and I realise I haven’t written at all really about my creativity or performing arts experience. That’s because the heart behind this all is my why. My why, or my purpose, is to share the love of God and introduce people to Jesus… My creativity is simply the how. I really enjoy writing, I really enjoy performing poetry, I really enjoy presenting in an engaging, dynamic, captivating way, but it’s only one form or expression of my why. 

I spent the past 6 years outworking my why in a completely different context – as an office administrator. I was really good at that job and it was a comfortable place to be in, but I felt God nudge me, saying, “it’s time to weave a new mat.” So I tied off the edges there and have stepped out to fully embrace a new how to my same why. I have to say, it’s been very refreshing to find myself with an expansive blank space in front of me to dream, create, design, explore, and adventure within. I now interact with empty notebooks instead of full spreadsheets, I have communion alone with Yahweh, instead of staff meetings jammed with agendas, and I write a lot more poems than emails – hallelujah! 

I don’t know how long I’ll have the honour of giving myself fully to creative ministry, perhaps a year, maybe two, or three. However long I find myself in this space, I feel so happy knowing that the Mission Artist within me is being valued and set up to soar. What a joy to create hand in hand with the Creator. What a privilege to share what we make together, with you. 

Grace & peace,

Sonny