Pharr poet gives back to at-risk youth through poetry and guidance

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Amanda Puryear El, an author and poet born and raised in Pharr, is not ashamed of her troubled youth.

Now, she uses poetry to motivate, inspire and guide at-risk students at the same alternative high school she attended, hoping to make a difference and lead youth down the right path.

Dubbed the poetry whisperer by the students at Buell Central High School, PSJA’s Alternative Education Program for 6-12 students assigned there through a disciplinary hearing, Puryear has been going to the school since 2019 teaching students poetry and letting them express themselves through art.

Inviting a reporter to her Pharr home to give a deeper sense of who she is, Puryear said she is surrounded by nature with greenery everywhere in her yard and her beloved birds and dogs.

She has tattoos from her head to her toes depicting such things as birds, the city of Pharr, plants and a book with Buell written on it. Puryear said each of her tattoos holds a story or message such as the nickname poetry whisperer given to her by students which she has on her arm.

Once in the same shoes as students at Buell High, she said she was expelled several times in the district.

“I think that this is the reason these kids could very much coexist with me in some way, in that space,” Puryear said. “Because they feel safe. They feel safe like, ‘Oh, like she understands us.’ It takes for you to understand who they are, for them to be able to gravitate to what you’re trying to put the message out for them to do.”

Building a strong connection with the students over the years, they have gone out of the way for her by building her a table during a shop class and gifting her plants.

Knowing how to tap into the words of the students, she said they get to express themselves unlike in other classes or school settings.

“Usually we just rhyme, like, I’ll go in there and I’ll just be like, ‘Hey, what are we gonna do today? Who pissed who off?’ You know, like, ‘Did the girlfriend leave you last night? Did the boyfriend? Baby mama drama? Like, what’s going on? You know, let’s talk about it.’ And Instead of being so vocal about it, let’s write about it … You got to tell them it’s OK to be mad and it’s OK not to be OK.”

Living out of the Valley and moving around the country to places such as Brooklyn, where her husband is from, Puryear said living in New York City definitely shaped who she is today.

“Brooklyn for sure brought that b—- I needed out of me,” she said. “I went from having fear to being this fearless person that I don’t give a damn what anybody says. I’m going to do this because I’m going to do this.”

Moving back to the Valley in 2019 to be with her sick dad, Puryear decided to start writing books and poetry. She has published 10 poetry books which includes a children’s book called “The Legend of La Chancla.”

One day she ran into Jorge Palacios from PSJA. He’s the one who expelled her from school. She said Palacios jokingly said it was time for her to pay him back for all the trouble she had caused.

Puryear would be sent all around the district teaching students how to express themselves through poetry but she knew that in her heart she wanted to be at Buell High helping students that she saw herself in 25 years ago.

“It still very much represents who I am, so I felt it had to be at that school specifically,” she said. “I remember back in my time, I really needed somebody like myself to say ‘Hey, get it together girl. You have to move differently to be able to accomplish these things.’ I wanted to go be everywhere, but I felt like those are kids that need me and I need them as much as they need me because they represent me and everything I used to do and be and still am.”

Releasing her first spoken word poetry album last month, “Daily Dosage,” Puryear showcased her body of work to the Buell students on Friday.

The album featuring Bobby Pulido has many nature-related elements such as birds chirping, wind blowing, and rain and thunder.

The album dives into Puryear’s personal life from introducing and openly speaking about her autistic 6-year-old, the death of her father and dealing with anxiety and panic attacks.

Surpassing 55,000 streams across multiple platforms, Puryear said she is grateful for the success as the album represents who she is right now.

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