Dena Leichnitz-Amos

Los Angeles, California

Dena Leichnitz-Amos was born on January 12, 1970 in San Francisco, California. Though she spent the majority of her childhood in Altadena, California.She is the youngest of four. She graduated from high school and college with honors. She has been married for three years and she has no children yet. Dena has been writing poetry since she was 15 to help cope with a difficult period in her life. She has even written a book of her own poetry called, "A Day After Never." You may obtain a copy of her book by writing to her care of The International Poetry Hall of Fame.

I Am A Poet

I am a poet
And not for what I write
But because of what I feel
And my unique insight.

I am a poet
And not for my words
But for my wisdom
And the lessons I learned.

I am a poet
But it never was a choice
My muse can't be silenced
For it has its own voice.

I am a poet
It is who I was born to be
And it resides so deep
That I shall never be free.

For as long as I live
There shall always be a part
That lives on the page
But comes from my heart.

I am a poet
And not for what I write
But because of what I feel
And my unique insight.

One Wicked Ride

It was 12 years ago
On this very day
That I wished to die
And take my life away.

The solution that I sought
Was in a bottle of pills
And when I laid down to sleep
I prayed that they would kill.

I was troubled by a death
And yet not by my own
For the day that he died
My pain had only grown.

I wanted to be reunited
And today was not too soon
So I swallowed them all down
And went to my room.

But I did not die
And my life was saved
But it still was destroyed
I just wasn't in a grave.

When I was 14 years old
I embraced suicide
But what I leaned was
Surviving is one wicked ride.