Tiburon poet finds healing through verse

Tiburon poet Ashley Moyo at the Hippie Tree, a location she finds inspirational and often writes at. (Leo Leung / For The Ark)

Ashley Moyo wrote her first poem at age 9 for a school assignment about glasses. She continued using poetry throughout her education, including as a Model United Nations member in high school, when she began her speeches with poems rather than quotes or statistics.

“I saw that (poems) had a huge impact, like I could hold the crowd in that in those moments,” Moyo says.

The Tiburon resident says she began taking poetry seriously in 2018 during her senior year of high school after sharing one of her poems at an interactive theater show. The director reached out afterward and asked if she wanted to try slam poetry, a type of competition where poets perform original work before a live audience and judges.

Since then, Moyo, 25, has entered numerous competitions — and she’s racked up several wins, including three in 2022. She balances her passion for poetry with pursuing a nursing degree at College of Marin, saying she hopes to eventually merge art with health care as an art therapist.

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