Self-Taught: How Do You Get Into Poetry?

A novice poetry reader's list for fellow book lovers intimidated by capital-P Poetry

One summer between college courses, I picked up a collection of Emily Dickinson poems. Since I compulsively collect these reputable artists like snow globes on an interior shelf, this felt like Someone I Had To Know (TM).

But my body repelled her poetry like a teething kid trying broccoli for the first time.

I flipped through the pages, organized by thematic emotions (like “love” or something, who knows). Nothing sparked. “Poetry must not be for me,” I thought with a quiet thrum of panic. The shorter the poem, the more certain I was that I missed something. I put the book down and never picked it back up again.

Now, did I post one of her poems to my writing Instagram as a flex to my followers that yes, I was reading Dickinson in my leisure time? Of course I did. Was the poem ironically about low self-regard? Double yes.

chloeisawriter

A post shared by @chloeisawriter

If I, someone pursuing a graduate-level creative writing degree, couldn’t understand this canon poet…was there something wrong with me?

This elite connotation poetry c…