How I Met The Poet X

“Pero, tú no eres fácil.”

Last year, on a rainy day in Ankara, I was browsing the bookstore and checking the prices of all the English books when I saw a shelf with "DISCOUNT!" on it.

Then, all of a sudden, I saw The Poet X, written by an author I had never heard of before: Elizabeth Acevedo.

I don't know why, but I felt like I was drawn to that book, and as it was on discount, I felt like we were destined to be together. As I started reading and reading, I found myself being obsessed with the book, carried everywhere and finished in just a couple of days, even though I was busy with a number of novels and short stories that I was to read for my finals. And seriously, the way it was written, the simplicity and reality of the book was so real that it was like a coming of age film that was different than the cheap, not-so-serious ones.

This year, for my modern american fiction class, we read 3 books: Catcher in the Rye, The Bell Jar, and surprisingly, The Poet X. As our professor was talking about The Poet X, I felt so naked like an obsessed fangirl and wanted to speak all about it but I kept it normal and just told him that I've already read it and really liked it. Btw, it's okay if you are envious of what we read because all of these books were raw and felt like a punch in my face because I am going through a phase in my life where I feel like a stuck teenager again; not knowing what to do and wanting to be everything, like the fig-tree analogy, and like the ducks in The Catcher in the Rye.

“The world is almost peaceful when you stop trying to understand it.”

Back to The Poet X, I really recommend all of you to give it a chance because the protagonist, Xiomara, is a teenager growing up in Harlem with a strong religious and repressive mother figure, a present yet absent father, and a closeted but blooming and open gay twin brother.

“Just because your father's present, doesn't mean he isn't absent.”

Xiomara experiences life through poetry that reflects her journey of adolescent struggles with an unfiltered, raw, and universal language because the story is ordinary, banal, and boring for some people but the beauty of it lies there: anyone can relate to her struggles, we are actually the same, and ordinary. The narrative is told through free-verse poems, and this poetic structure tells the story of a young girl expressing her inner monologue while dealing with family issues, identity crisis, religion, female sexuality, and sexual awakening amid the conservative nature of the institution called family.

“I've forced my skin as thick as I am.”

The language and free verse allow the readers to connect with her daily struggles, thoughts, and emotional growth. Her desire to be seen and unseen is a central tension that drives the narrative, and by each page, you feel her voice becoming bolder, more assured, and heavier.

Slam poetry, spoken word performance poetry, becomes her only way out.

It feels like her poetry serves as an act of rebellion, and she not only survives but also acknowledges herself on her own terms through her poetry. Each line feels like a step toward reclaiming herself, carrying the weight of social judgment, religious expectations, and adolescence.

I don't want to delve deeper and spoil the surprise but I hope it would be as interesting to you as it was for me. Bye for now!

“Burn it! Burn it. This is where the poems are,” I say, thumping a fist against my chest. “Will you burn me? Will you burn me, too?”