Kimberly Hillyer, DNP, NNP-BC
The following is an amended transcript for Neonatology Today of Dr. Kimberly Hillyer and author/Physician Dr. Tiffanie Tate Moore. The following interview focused on her new book, FloweTry: A Collection of 108 Poetic Flows on Life, Love, and Liturgical Issues.
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Introduction
Thank you for joining us on today’s broadcast. I’m Dr. Kimberly Hillyer, a Nurse Practitioner and the media correspondent for Neonatology Today. This segment features Dr. Tiffanie Tate Moore. Dr. Moore is the author of FloweTry: A collection of 108 poetic flows on Life, Love, and Liturgical issues. Candidly and poetically, she dives into the topics of our times which includes COVID, politics, black history, and police brutality. Through a challenging childhood being a young survivor of a drive-by shooting, Dr. Moore went on to serve in the U.S. Navy during Operation Enduring Freedom and the global war on terrorism. She became an OB-GYN, but after a hand injury forced her to retire from her beloved job in 2019, Dr. Moore faced yet another challenge. This compilation of poems is a testament to her journey and resilience.
Dr. Hillyer: Thank you for joining us, Tiffanie. In your book of poems, you shared your life. Can you tell me a little bit about your journey and how these poems influenced that or were influenced by your journey?
Dr. Tate Moore: Well, basically, my life journey has been a very interesting one, and my poetry took definitely a different turn because I did not consider myself to be a poet. I considered myself to be a Surgeon. When I started writing, I started writing out of necessity because I felt essentially down and depressed. I started writing when I could no longer practice medicine.
I grew up in Compton, and both of my parents were essentially drug addicts. I was raised by my aunt, lovingly known as my mom-tee Mae. She has raised me basically from the age of two years old. I’d overcome so many different obstacles to become an obstetrician-gynecologist. I could not believe that there would ever be a time that, after overcoming everything that I did, that I would not be able to practice medicine.
When I was injured and I could no longer practice medicine, I began to write poems to encourage myself. As I began to write the poetry, I didn’t write them for other people; I wrote them to encourage myself. I began to share them with family and friends, and they said, “You should probably publish this.” I was like, “No, I am not going to do that because I’m a doctor; I’m not a poet.” They were like, “No, seriously, you should share this.” I was like, “No, I am a surgeon; I’m not a poet.” They’re like, “No, seriously, you should really publish this.” When I submitted my poems to two different publishers, both publishers were interested. I scratched my head, and I was like, “Oh, huh, maybe I’m a doctor and a poet.” I had to rethink what I was because I had put myself in a box, andI did not consider myself to be a writer. I mean, I’ve always loved writing, but I did not consider myself a writer.
When I started out in undergrad, I actually started as an English major. I thought I was going to become an English teacher to pay my way through medical school at U.C. Santa Barbara. My counselor there, he laughed in my face, and he said, “Oh, sweetie, teachers don’t make enough money to pay for medical school.” I didn’t know that at the time. He said, “If you want to be a doctor, you need to switch your major to biology,” and so I did, and that was all she wrote. I put writing behind me. The joke’s on me because here I am writing again.
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Disclosure: Dr. Tate Moore is the author of FloweTry: A Collection of 108 Poetic Flows on Life, Love, and Liturgical Issues