Revisiting “Poetry Changes You as Nothing Else Can”
Why didn’t this story take off?
“You had me at Narnia,” Holly said.
Like Holly, I’ve always wanted to open a wardrobe, step inside, and emerge into another world.
Holly’s comment was on my story about poetry, and how it shapes my inner world. Here’s what I wrote in my article:
Poems, to me, are maps to Narnia, a flight path over the rainbow. Poems show you where to find the real gold, the things we cannot put words to. Poems lead us to the treasure that makes us rich in ways that feel impossible to articulate. Poems say the unsayable, using words to point to a place beyond words.
Now that might sound like I’m in love with poetry. That’s not usually how I feel. The truth is, most poetry leaves me cold. I think “this doesn’t make any sense!” and I walk away.
But — and it’s a big “BUT” — some poems are electric!
When I can understand a poem, and it connects with my soul, I can’t get enough. I keep bumping into poems like this on Medium. Poets like Gregory D. Welch, Jenine Bsharah Baines and Upen Singh repeatedly leave me with tingles from their words.
So, when I came across Holly Jahangiri’s publication, Reading Rhombus, I was intrigued by the publication’s concept of weaving together four different Medium stories in each article. And I immediately knew what I wanted to share. My favorite Medium poetry.
As I sat down to write about poetry, some of the deepest things about myself came to the surface. I ended up writing the article that is closest to my soul.
Since publication, it got 28 views.
Any thoughts on what could have taken this article through the wardrobe?
