An Imposter at the Palace Door is a creative inquiry and a testament to the common experience of not understanding your own identity. This poetry collection seeks to tell multiple intertwining stories—contradictions that can simultaneously be true. Given the delicacy of this topic, this collection has a fantastical aspect woven into it. I look to formally publish this collection of poems.

This poetry collection is a tribute to the life path I have chosen for myself. Growing up in a multicultural New York suburban household, with one immigrant parent and one first-generation American parent, my lifestyle was unique from those around me. Along with that, I was diagnosed at a young age with a chronic illness that I still struggle with. The emotional turmoil I felt growing up has followed me into adulthood, yet I have learned from this experience that surrounding yourself with accepting people is healing. Pouring your soul into art is healing. This collection is about learning to trust your own body and judgment, to lean onto those around you for support, and to never let your imagination and spirit die. To understand that you do not need to fit fully into a group in order to have a valid existence.

The beginning of this poetry collection contains many poems of journal entries, lists, and other forms to express the anxiety of day-to-day life. The familiar stress of being away from loved ones, of feeling misunderstood, of not understanding yourself and your purpose. This bleeds into more upbeat poems exploring the mundane joys of life, and closes in a hopeful conclusion. My goal with this poetry collection is to help others feel seen in ways I have struggled in the past and to resonate with people. After all, that is what the human experience is wholly about.