Whenever I am asked if I read poems, I never know what to say. I always think, “Does it count if all I did was read the words?” The reason for this is that I hardly ever successfully interpret poems. I know it’s supposed to be all up to the readers mostly to interpret things the way they see fit, but it’s still a confusing question for me.

When I read Laurie Ann Guerrero’s poems before class, I didn’t really feel confident that I understood them. But, when she spoke in class about her background and her drive when she was writing the poems, I suddenly understood. Or at least my efforts were doubled so that this time I was determined to understand.

I came to the conclusion that sometimes a little background knowledge is important to fully understand a work of art. For me, putting the pieces together throughout the class was the fun part. In the intense and emotional time that Laurie Ann was in our class, I felt inspired because poetry really can express the essence of a person.

What I found really interesting was her “crown of sonnets”- mainly because I was in awe that she actually wanted to put herself through that grueling process! I remember in my junior year of high school, I had to write a normal sonnet and it was SO DIFFICULT. I mean getting the iambic pentameter right, then the rhyme scheme, all the while making sure the poem makes some kind of sense…it just goes on and on. The point is, one sonnet consumed so much of my time. But then in class I heard from Laurie Ann a couple of poems from her crown of sonnets and suddenly I was inspired to try my hand in poetry again.

Laurie Ann said that she attempted the crown of sonnets when she needed something to distract her and I’m thinking now that that sounds like a good idea. Who knows? I might try one!