Writer of raw truths. Poet of survival. Voice for the unheard.
I am Stephanie Haveman. Dutch-born poet, author, and creator behind AmL Poetry, Prose & Quotes. I do not write to impress. I write to survive. I write because there were years when no one heard me, and now I refuse to be silent.
My words are not polished to perfection. They are stained with grief, lit by rage, softened by love, and shaped by everything I had to overcome. I do not believe in pretending that pain makes us poetic. I believe it makes us real.
I grew up in a world that taught me to hide my wounds. That world failed me. As a child, I learned to comfort myself when no one else did. As a teenager, I was already fighting battles no one should ever face alone. Abuse, neglect, and survival were my early languages. Later, addiction offered a false escape. It almost killed me. But it also forced me to find something stronger inside myself.
That strength came through writing. When I couldn’t speak, I scribbled in the dark. When I couldn’t cry, I wrote poems instead. Every book I have released is a chapter of my healing. Butterflies & Guitars was my beginning. Stripped Naked took me deeper. Alone in the Dark cracked open what I had buried for years. My work continues to evolve as I grow, heal, and rebuild.
I do not write for perfection. I write for the broken, the brave, and those who carry stories they were told to forget. My poems do not always rhyme. They pulse, they ache, they tell the truth. Sometimes they shout. Other times they whisper. But they always speak.
I live in Fijnaart, a quiet town in the Netherlands, with my son and the man who holds space for my chaos and calm. My son is my anchor. My recovery is my revolution. My trauma is not my identity, but it is the soil from which my art grew.
I have been clean for over three years. That matters. Not because it makes me better, but because it reminds me that healing is possible. I do not sugarcoat recovery. It is messy, nonlinear, and deeply personal. But I show up for it, every single day.
I have lived through addiction, domestic violence, loss, illness, and the long, lonely road of rebuilding. I live with FND, a neurological disorder that changed how I move through the world. I also live with chronic hyper-arousal and complex PTSD. These things do not define me, but they shape the way I feel everything. My writing reflects that.
Today, I speak at schools, write for others, publish my work internationally, and show up online to remind people they are not alone. Over 17,000 readers follow AmL Poetry, Prose & Quotes, not because I offer answers, but because I offer honesty.
I believe in art that reaches into the darkness and pulls something sacred out. I believe in staying human. I believe in giving voice to the things we were told to bury. And I believe that even the most shattered parts of us can be turned into something beautiful.
If you are looking for polished poetry without scars, I am not your writer. But if you are looking for something real, something honest, something that sees you where you are, then welcome. You are safe here.
This is not just my story. It is a mirror for anyone who has ever felt invisible, unheard, or too much.
Thank you for being here.
Stephanie