Kay Kestner
Poet and playwright searching the soul of words through a grammatically incorrect and poorly punctuated mind.

“Live Your Own Language” a poem by Kay Kestner: I wanted to send you letters that would heal the dark ache in your torn heart. I wanted to give you a language that could bring life back to your soul, your convictions, your hopes, and your God given bounty of beautiful gifts…
POETRY:

“Poetry, more than any other form of writing, unites writer and reader on an intimate level. In my poetry, I try to connect one to one with the reader. Even at readings, my goal is to have everyone feel like I am talking individually with just that singular person instead of an audience, hoping to create the sense of the two of us sitting off to the side, in an intimate space, sharing something personal, honest, and sacred together.”
…Wanted to give you a literary expression that could lift you from the slow low hum of everything you thought you could never become, lift you above the lifelong embedded lies, lift you up and out of the century-old family history of hurt and hit and hate…
Click on the links below to explore some of Kay Kestner’s poetry:
- Read a sampling of Kay’s poems online.
- Watch Kay’s readings and writing prompts on YouTube.
- Listen to readings on…. hmmm, well, I suppose we’ll get around to that soon.
- Looking for more? She’s available for features at central NJ events, online podcasts, readings, and more. Contact Kay.

…Wanted to give you a voice that needed no screams. I wanted to take you from the prison of illiteracy and silence to the free and moving and miraculous world of vocabulary…
THEATRE:

“Playwrighting comes naturally to me. It’s dialogue based. A conversation between characters and with the audience. It’s out loud. The story is spoken. I have a form of dyslexia that makes words only connect in sound. For me to comprehend the written word I must give it a voice that I can hear. What is on the page must become a character that talks to me or else I cannot comprehend what is written. This obstacle that left me functionally illiterate until my early 20’s, in the end became the gift that turned me into a natural playwright. “
…But my words are only mine. It is not my words, their words, or anyone else’s words that you need. What you need are your own words. You must find your own voice, create your own dictionary, develop your own definitions, and live as though you are a language that was never spoken until you entered this world…
ABOUT:
Kay Kestner grew up working at her family’s store in Pine Lake Park, NJ. There she learned to stock shelves and work a register but did not learn to read.
Emboldened in her teens by the saying, “three chords and the truth,” she began taking the words from in her head and scribbling them down on paper as short poems. At that same time, she fervently set out to teach herself to read and became fully literate in her early twenties.
Her poetry has recently been published in the UK’s Amethyst Review and Seclouth Station, Australia’s Otoliths and Burrow, and the US’s Soup Can Magazine Issue #6 and Anti-Heroin Chic.
Her screenplay, ART NEVER LIES, was a 2022 finalist in the Bigfoot in Collaboration with Trinity College Dublin Screenwriting Contest.
She was the founder and editor of Poetry Breakfast and has led writing workshops at the Water Witch Writing Series and NJ Poetry and Arts Barn.

…You must speak in your language even if they do not understand. Communicate in your own words even if it seems no one is listening. Write your own letters even if no one reads them. And remember, the infinite universe has ears and understands every language, even the language of your life.
Listen to a full reading of “Live Your Own Language”
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