When I was little, I loved poetry without even knowing it. I spent a majority of my time either reading Dr. Seuss books, or “Where The Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein. At the time, I didn’t realize it was poetry though. I was just attracted to the short and sweet nature of the story telling and how it always sounded like a song. However, as I got older, I feel like poetry was ruined for me. I began to find it extremely boring and pointless. I could never understand the allusions or the symbolism because I never knew what to look for. I hated whenever I heard our teacher say that it was time for the poetry unit. Once I entered high school, however, my views began to change again. I was able to learn more about literary devices and all of a sudden, poetry made sense again! I was once again drawn back into the rhymes and short stories that I had to think about to figure out. Now, I very much enjoy poetry mainly because most of the time it is a puzzle. Poetry is almost never straight forward, there is always some sort of background story or hidden message inside that requires thought to figure out. Currently, I am reading a book of poetry called “Black Butterfly” by Robert M. Drake. I’m very glad that my love for poetry has come back full circle!