Driven by the desire to raise his voice for those who are not heard, Brad Gilmore uses his poems to address social issues in his home country. As a medical doctor by profession, it is in his innate characteristic to help people, one patient at a time. His career would have been enough to make the world a better place, but he realized that he can use his talents in other creative ways as well.
Brad began writing poetry as a positive distraction after being emotionally ill and traumatized. From then on, he has been writing poems that cater to different readers: spiritual, social, economic, and even mundane. Writing under the pseudonym of AgapePhileoEros and Jackson Ford, he has inspired plenty of readers, both online and offline, to pursue social and economic change.
Writing as a Young Boy
At an early age, Brad learned that words held a powerful force to influence and inspire people. His mother studied journalism, and was his greatest writing critique from first grade throughout college. According to Brad, she had the ability to get angry, discipline him, and criticize his work without having to use a single cuss word. That was how good she was at disciplining him without using physical or abusive force, which made him a better writer.
Becoming a wordsmith wasn’t always a career that Brad chose when he was younger, though. He studied medicine and became a doctor first before pursuing the path he is in now. He doesn’t regret becoming a doctor and being able to heal those who are ill. However, he says that if he could have given his younger self an advice, he would have told him to start writing poems as early as possible.
Changing the World Through Poems
During the spring of 2016, Brad got terribly ill and was hospitalized for two months. After he went through emotional illness and personal trauma, he diverted his energy to poetry writing. For him, writing poems gave him a positive distraction from the hardships he encounters every day. Even until now, he still turns his negative experiences into cleverly-written poems which his readers love to read.
It was also during that year when the presidential elections were held. Upon seeing the disheartening events that are happening in his country, Brad decided that he would use his poems to voice out his opinions. His works are particularly geared towards teenagers and college students. He believes that young adults have the ability to change and resolve the world’s inequities. Still, it is not limited to his younger audiences since he also wants adults to be able to enjoy his writings.
Another inspiration in Brad’s work is his faith. A lot of his poetry is influenced by his medical and public health training. It stems from a non-lazy, self-interested faith in Jesus Christ’s teachings. He wants people to focus on putting Jesus’s teachings into action, such as loving your neighbors and enemies. Through his poems, Brad is hoping that it will inspire his readers to be more compassionate and help the needy.
Publishing His Work Online
Brad’s work can be found at allpoetry.com under the pseudonym AgapePhileoEros. He explains that his pseudonym is the amalgamation of the Greek words for love: agape (brotherly love and affection), phileo (intimate love), and eros (love in all its forms). Over the years, Brad has gained several fans of his work in that website, and he assures his readers that he’s not going to stop posting anytime soon. He even shares that the monthly membership fees he pays at allpoetry.com are the most rewarding and productive money he has ever spent.
Publishing his work online gave way to plenty of instant feedback— both positive and negative. Brad says that he always reads the reviews he receives on his writings. He believes that it helps him improve his writing style by looking at his work through their perspectives. He graciously shows appreciation and recommendation to the positive critiques. For the negative feedbacks, he considers what they have to say and thanks them for taking the time to read his work.
Aside from the individual poems he posts on the said poetry site, Brad has also published two anthologies that are currently available on Amazon. The first collection is entitled Wisdom for the Weeping Widow, while the second one is called Love and Lust-filled Lullabies. He is currently working on the third one, When the Cock Crows Twice. These three collections make up his poetry trilogy called Arid Willows and Hallowed Haunts which is yet to be released.
Pursuing His Goals as an Author
Despite being able to publish several poems and anthologies as of the moment, Brad’s literary career is far from over. He sees writing as a life-long career that he will keep on pursuing. In addition to his anthologies, his goals are to write a fictional novel, a book about his personal philosophies, and non-fiction books about social awareness.
Today, Brad is juggling his time between working on his poetry trilogy, getting ready to submit a play, and starting his novel. It’s a lot for one person to handle, but he loves what he’s doing. In the coming years, his readers should expect to see more of his work being published. No matter what it is – poems, novels, plays – Brad Gilmore’s works will always seek to spark a change in the social and economic status of the world.
