We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tammy Rébéré a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tammy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Phrases such as “everything has a reason” or “it was meant to be” are often said when wonderful things happen to a person. But when bad things happen, it’s not so easy to say. For me personally, when I haven’t been able to find meaning for what’s happened in my life, I try my best to make it meaningful.

My emotions run deep, and as a poet and photographer, I find I express them best through my art. My latest project consists of two photo-poetry books, The Echo of You and The Echo of Us. The first book, The Echo of You, is about a couple that is destined to be together but struggle to find their way. On the surface, it sounds like boy meets girl, encounter roadblocks, and then in the end, live happily ever after. Well, it goes much deeper than that. It’s really about their struggles and what each person must do in order to grow individually before they can give themselves wholly to the other. The second book, The Echo of Us, continues where the first one left off. The couple begin their life together blissfully, but then tragedy strikes with the loss of children. Not gonna lie, if I thought the first book was difficult to write, this one gutted me. I personally have had significant loss in my life. Loss that I struggled for years to find meaning with. Yet, through writing both of these books, I’ve been able to make my experiences meaningful because they speak to so many people that have gone through similar things.

I’ve already received emails from readers expressing how these books have changed their views on love, loss, and grief. I can’t even begin to describe how meaningful that is to me.

Tammy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I don’t consider myself a complex person, yet I write in multiple genres under three different pen names. I’m in love with nature and wildlife, the sun rising and setting, oceans that breathe along the shore, and words that drip like honey. For those reasons, I am a photographer and a poet under my own name, Tammy Rébéré. I am, also, most definitely a child at heart. I giggle, and laugh, and love with great innocence. For those reasons, I write children’s books under the name, Elizabeth Hope. And lastly, there’s something that lurks about in the shadows of my mind that is mysterious, even thrill seeking. For those reasons, I write action and psychological thrillers under the name TJ Timothy.

Okay, maybe I’m more complex than I thought. But the constant thread that runs through me, no matter what name I go by, is that I genuinely care. I care about people, about animals, and about the environment. In a world then tends to go by the motto, “if it doesn’t serve me”, I ask myself regularly, “how can I serve others”, and that is what I’m most proud of.

There was a time when I felt lost, and I never want people to feel the way I did. I know they will. It’s inevitable that something somewhere will cause someone to feel lost, but if I can help, I will. If one of my books happens to be within their reach and it helps them to not feel alone or validates how they feel, that is incredibly fulfilling for me.

Here are a couple of my poems to illustrate the feelings of being lost and of being heard:

Lost

Blanketed by a heaviness closing in on my soul,
I’m gasping for breaths and my tears start to stream.
It is dark all around and I can’t find my way.
Please, oh please, release from me from this dream.

I’m lost in the forest with tangling trees closing in.
I’m scared and alone searching for the light.
But the night is black, and no stars can be found
To guide me through on this bleak, dark night.

There was a time when the sun followed me,
But it abandoned me like everything else.
I am undeserving of its beauty and warmth.
All the colors are gone, even the muted pastels.

No one is searching and I’m all alone.
Unworthy and unloved is how I’ll stay.
I wish to God for just a bit of light, but
It is dark all around and I can’t find my way.

I’m Here

Today I cried to a friend.
He said, “I’m here. Just breathe.”
To my breath I did tend,
And heard him breathe with me.

A tear fell upon my cheek.
He said, “It’s okay. I’m here.”
My heart felt a little less bleak,
And I soon let go of my fear.

My concerns I finally shared.
He said, “I’m here. I’ll aid.”
I knew that he really cared,
And my sadness began to fade.

Upon my lips came a smile.
He said, “I’m here. Always.”
But that I felt, all the while,
And I was glad for him this day.

My photos help express the mood of my poems, whether it be a dense fog, light shining through a forest, or a quirky looking bird. I am as immersed in photography as I am when I write. I’m reminded of the gift of life every time I take a photo of the sun rising, the delicateness of nature from flowers and butterflies, and the feeling of power when I capture the waves of the ocean. For brief moments, I’m at one with creation.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This question brings to mind that scene in Captain Marvel (yes, I’m also a geek) where Carol Danvers keeps getting up no matter what obstacle pushes her down. That’s resilience!

I have several autoimmune diseases and have had to readjust my way of life many times over to accommodate the changes in my health, but the core of me stays resilient. My focus is on the things I CAN do. There are many days I struggle to get out of bed, many days I don’t feel like writing, many days I don’t want to hold my camera to click a hundred shots just to get the perfect one, and many days I don’t feel inspirational, but I do it anyway. And I can honestly say, I don’t regret it. I will always somehow find the superhero in me to keep getting up and make it all meaningful.

Dawn of Hope

Alone in the dark waiting for words,
Wondering why I feel so absurd.
I want to write but I feel stuck,
Mired down in nothing but muck.

Searching for answers for how I feel,
But living in fear is my new deal.
I hate it all, and I hate this day.
I hate myself for feeling this way.

Over the edge is a hint of light,
Giving reprieve for the long, dark night.
Streaks of color shimmer the sky.
I hold my heart and start to cry.

At last, my words begin to flow,
Comforting me more than I know.
A new day dawns, giving me hope,
Inspiring my soul to help me cope.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Last year when I was on a plane coming home from a signing for my book, The Echo of You, the lady sitting beside me said, “You’re that author!” I thought she must have been at my signing, but before I could answer, she pulled up an Amazon page that had my photo. It was me, but not as Tammy Rébéré. It was my Elizabeth Hope photo for my children’s book, Gordo and Chico: An Unexpected Friendship. I was shocked. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be recognized for anything; let alone a little book I wrote four years prior. She told me that she found Gordo and Chico online and bought it for her non-verbal, autistic daughter, and for the past two years it has helped her immensely in communicating. The mother also expressed that she took the book to her support group of parents of special needs children and that it was passed around from family to family, helping their young ones.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, in all my life will be as rewarding as that experience! Helping people has always been my mission. By shifting my focus from loss to meaning, I’ve come to realize that when you lose, you gain.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tammyrebere.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tammyrebereauthor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tammyrebere

Image Credits

Tammy Rébéré