Autobiography

MICHELLE L. BAILEY

Michelle L. Hamilton-Bailey also known as MichyB was born in Clarendon, Jamaica. I have always had a love for reading and writing. My passion for writing began long before I even understood it. My love for poetry began during those days when I attended Race Course primary school. Poems like, 'I wonder why the grass is green' by Jeannie Kirby,'The Spanish Needle', by Claude Mckay, 'The Pencil', (just to name a few) left an indelible impression in my heart. Writing composition was one of my favorite subjects during my elementary years.

While for many reading was fundamental, for me reading was more-it was like an addiction. I just had to read- from Archie comics to anything I could find to read. At the tender age of twelve I witnessed my father physically abused my mother. This affected me immensely. My mother soon left the matrimonial home and took with her, all six children. Unsure of whom to talk to, I began to write my emotions and pain down. Writing became my therapy. That's the only way I knew how to ease the pain.

When I was younger and people used to ask me what I want to be when I grow up, I used to answer a nurse, a teacher, a doctor, a police or any of those noble professions. Can you imagine if I were to say I want to be a writer/poet? Just imagine the reaction I would get then? Yeah, even I sometimes think I'm crazy. Why I couldn't just be one of those respectable professionals. Why couldn't I just be happy being a wife and mother? These are question I wrestle with from time to time. But I cannot see what else I could be. Writing is an extraordinary thing-it transforms me. It is my joy. It is like an out of body experience.

I began to write, mostly poems full of anger and hate I had not yet grasped the power of the written word. Unfortunately the anger that I penned also led me to rip-up those poems. My life began to move in a more calming direction, soon I was writing and acting at church. My turning point was when my third form teacher from Manchester High School , Peter Maxwell, (RIP), loaned me The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. "From then on, I stopped reading just for mere pleasure but for something deeper. I traded my Mills and Boons, Harlequin and True Confessions for works that are considered to be some a the greatest pieces of literature. Mr. Maxwell, fed me Browning, Shakespeare, Hemingway, more Claude McKay and many other works by masters. From then on I fell in love with the literary world and I’m still loving it!"

I am a graduate of NYU with a degree in Creative Writing and will pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree in the near future. I am married with three young gentlemen who keep me busy.

MichyB has performed at the Jamaica Consul in Manhattan and at other places in and around New Jersey and New York. When not writing or reciting MichyB can be heard hosting and co-hosting on WVIP radio and on WLNK radio. On November 30th ,2007 , the funny but conscious MichyB launched her first album of spoken words, namely 'When Mama Was God'. Check it out.