Editor’s note: This is a feature about Jonathan Anthony Burkett, the founder of Upstormed Inc, which owns Upstormed News.
Most readers know Jonathan Anthony Burkett through his memoir, his Friends 2 Lovers novels or his songs on Upstormed Records. Fewer know that before the books and the music there were poems. His personal website, jonathanburkett.com, now collects 23 of them on a single page and introduces them as words written through hardship, faith, heartbreak and love, “long before the books and the music.”
This feature looks at that collection: what it holds, how it is organized, and how it connects to the rest of his work.
The poem that named a memoir
The collection opens with “Neglected But Undefeated.” According to his site, it is the poem that opens his memoir and gave the book its name. That makes it a kind of doorway. The memoir tells the story of a boy born in Miami in 1987 and raised in Jamaica by his grandparents, through economic hardship and serious health challenges, including seizures and brain surgery on January 30, 2006. The poem carries the same idea in a few lines: a hard start that does not get the final word.
For readers who have only met that title on a book cover, the poem is a chance to see where it came from.
Three sections, three seasons of life
The site groups the 23 poems into three sections. Each one reads like a different season of a life.
- Rising from the storm (faith and victory). Poems such as “Blessed,” “Moving Targets,” “Now” and “Standing In The Mirror” deal with gratitude, trusting God through challenges, leaving a painful childhood behind and looking honestly at the past while resolving to do better.
- Poems of the heart (love). The largest group includes “A Better Life,” “A Deep Connection Between Us,” “Someone Complete,” “Poetically But Passionately” and “Dream Come True.” These are about hoping for a partner, friendship that grows into something deeper, and waiting patiently for love while healing from old pain.
- Wondering, fighting, remaining (life and brotherhood). Here are the harder questions: regret in “Why Didn’t I,” apology in “Realizing My Mistakes,” doubt in “I Stop and Wonder,” and loyalty in “Best Friends,” a poem about brotherly friendship through hard times.
Where the novels began
Anyone who has read the Friends 2 Lovers saga will recognize the territory of the love poems. Titles like “Poetically But Passionately” and “My Love For You” describe affection that grows out of friendship, which is the heart of the series. The saga’s first three books, The Unthinkable, Closed Doors Open and Unexpected Consequences, are available now, with seven more listed as coming soon.
The same is true of his music. His site says the themes of his songs “also run through his books and poems.” Change, faith and refusing to give up show up in all three forms. The poems simply came first.
Honest about the dark nights
Not every poem ends on a high note, and the collection does not pretend otherwise. One poem, “I’m Ready,” speaks openly about despair. The site places a crisis note beside it: in the U.S., anyone who is struggling can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Including that poem, and that note, fits the larger message of his story, which is that hard seasons are real and help is there.
It also fits one of his best-known published lines:
“I didn’t choose it. I chose to survive it. Those are not the same thing.” Jonathan Anthony Burkett
Why it matters for families
Poetry can be a gentle way into big conversations. A short poem about gratitude, regret or friendship can open a talk at the dinner table that a lecture never would. Parents of teens may find the love poems and the “life and brotherhood” poems a natural starting point for talking about friendship, loyalty and handling hurt. Because the collection touches on despair in one poem, parents may want to read ahead and talk it through with younger readers.
There is also a simple lesson in how the collection exists at all. These were private words, written during hard times, that later became the seed of a memoir, a book series and a catalog of songs. For a young person who journals or writes in a notebook, that is encouragement to keep writing.
Where to find the poems
All 23 poems are posted on the Poems page of his website. His books are listed on the Books page, and his music, including One Life, Born To Make It and the Life As I Know It EP, is on the Music page and on Spotify. Upstormed News has also looked at how writing helped him forgive and heal and at the Friends 2 Lovers saga.
Read more: Neglected But Undefeated: What Jonathan Anthony Burkett’s Memoir Title Means
Learn more at jonathanburkett.com
Have you ever written a poem or journal entry that helped you through a hard season? Tell us in the comments.
Sources: Jonathan Anthony Burkett, “Poems” (accessed November 15, 2026); Jonathan Anthony Burkett, “His Story” (accessed November 15, 2026); jonathanburkett.com (accessed November 15, 2026); Upstormed Inc (accessed November 15, 2026); Spotify, Jonathan Anthony Burkett artist page (accessed November 15, 2026).
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