Loving The Poet X!

Taking me places I’ve never been, sharing things I can’t comprehend,

Straight up, 
I love 
The Poet X!

Understood, I’m not
the core 
it’s intended for, 
I get that,
but I lifted it
a summer ago, 
off the bookcase of my sister,
a lit bum English teacher
who gives me loads of good 
ideas, keeps me a bit hipper
than a really am, 
she flagged 
this one 
for me.

Liz Acevedo, 
a Dominican-American
author and poet,
wrote it,
The Poet X!
that is.

She shares stories
with language
I don’t know
and don’t know
how to use, but
I love it!

She, Poet X,  takes me
places I’ve never been,
shares things
I can’t comprehend,
I’ve never experienced
anything like them.

I’m not young,
like her,
not a woman,
like her,
not Latinx, 
like her,
but that
doesn’t diminish 
the power 
of her
words,
the language
she uses
or how it moves me.

What I share with Poet X
is a love of telling stories
based on real experiences,
real memories, 
real people,
using real language
that I hope stirs feelings
through a narrative poetic
style, free flowing,
carrying you
in unexpected ways
to unanticipated places,
I hope and pray.

Most of all
I love her vulnerability,
her authenticity, 
her badassedness!
Fine, I know,
that’s not a word
but that's what
she is, 
flatout.

She doesn’t hold back,
connecting her words
and thoughts in loose verse,
powerful 
and poignant.

Time ran out
on me and The Poet X! 
last summer, 
I left her
halfway through
her first adventure,
picked it back up
and finished it
a few weeks ago.

I intend 
to keep an eye 
on Liz, see what
she does next.

Until then 
she's given me
a new conviction:
keep it real and loose!