30 Days of Truth - Day 17

Day 17 → A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.

I almost avoided this topic in the meme because I didn't think it would push me to some inner truth. I'm still not sure if it will, but I guess I'll attempt it. I was English major. I've read hundreds, probably thousands, of books in my lifetime. There have been tons of books that have shifted my mindset. Each one I read opens me to another world, it changes my perspective, it expands my emotions.

I can't name one book in particular that made some overwhelming shift in my views. I believe it's been more of a constant re-evaluation with each work I encounter. However, I do believe that there is a genre as a whole that has impacted me most deeply. Poetry.

There is something so incredibly real about poetry. I think it captures emotions more accurately than any other form of writing. Its filled with seductive rhythms, or titillating pauses, or the undulations and movement that is so physical in its nature. Poetry can be so intensely structured or break every rule. It's simply magnificent. In reading poetry, even at an incredibly young age, I was immediately stuck by the idea that I could express myself in this way. I began writing my first poems as soon as I could form the letters.*

First and foremost at my core, I am a poet. I am a writer. There is something so completely natural that happens for me when I begin to put words to page. I have no delusions of grandeur. I don't believe I'm the best writer to ever pick up a pen or anything as narcissistic as that. Yet there is something inside me that feels whole, alive, and unrestrained when I'm writing. With poetry in particular, I feel like a part of my soul is flowing onto the page. The words are a part of me. The truth is, it was through reading that I was able to realize my love of writing. There is no particular book or even a specific author that I can say changed my world. However I can say, it was through reading that I was able to change my views on myself. I was able to discover an essential part of my being. I was able to discover and cultivate my love of the written word.

*I've kept almost every poem I've ever written (as well as the ideas scribbled out or jotted down). The oldest one I have dates back to 8 years old.