The Poet X

by Elizabeth Acevedo

How can I say things like that in front of strangers? In house stays in house, right? “Wrong,” Ms. Galiano tells me. She tells me words give people permission to be their fullest self. And aren’t these the poems I’ve most needed to hear?

I only know that learning to believe in the power of my own words has been the most freeing experience of my life. It has brought me the most light. And isn’t that what a poem is? A lantern glowing in the dark.