I used to hate poetry. I never had ideas to write about, I never understood the point of expressing oneself through metaphors, and I never enjoyed the idea of making my thoughts and feelings available for everyone to see.
But I guess things have changed since I created a book dedicated to making my thoughts and feelings available for everyone to see.
After going through a couple of rough years, I've discovered how therapeutic poetry is, from reading it and feeling the comfort of not being the only person to feel a certain way, to later writing it myself and getting to dive into my emotions. I also learned how amazing I am at it, though. That's why I wanted to create this book – not only to show off my outstanding skill, but to create something that people can hopefully read and relate to. It's crazy to think that anyone else out there has felt what you have, but that's the beauty of poetry. Poetry made me realize that I'm not alone.
However, I also wanted to express myself in a way that could let my readers learn who I am. Though some poems were created from imagination – like I do when writing novels – three-quarters of these poems were written from experiences, from dealing with body image and confidence, to relationships and everyday stress.
I hope that after delving into these pieces of me, you, the reader, will not feel alone in this overwhelming world like I once did. We all live different lives, but all are filled with both happiness and sorrow at one point – which doesn't always have to be a bad thing.