A Letter to Sarah Kay :)

I stumbled across an article once

and learned that the Chinese scientists who concocted gunpowder

were actually trying to make the "elixir of immortality". 

Which is to say --

the very thing responsible for forty-thousand deaths each year

is the brainchild of men who sought eternal life. 

From this I learned that irony will make us all fools

and history will make us all angry

and maybe there is no poem to write

when the metaphor comes pre-written.

Above you have the product of half-an-hour of writer's block and the reason I'm not a poet. I think poetry, like most things, is something you can never truly appreciate until you try it yourself. 

I remember reading Dr. Seuss as a haughty six-year-old, deeply unimpressed by every psuedo-rhyme. If I had permission to make up words (like Troy High did when they painted "resiliency" on a pillar in the cafeteria...), I, too, could rhyme with every line I wrote, right? 

I thought the same of Sally Rooney -- I couldn't understand readers who worshipped at her altar, because after trying two of her books two separate times each, I realized I physically could not look past her failure to use quotation marks. In fact, I distinctly remember telling a friend that "grammar rules are not suggestions", which resulted in this conversation later (we love my friends for entertaining my annoying book-related and otherwise opinions):

But I digress. Writing this poem above proved to me that writing poetry is hard, made-up words or not. In fact, it's just as hard to make up words as it is to use words that already exist. And a certain Sally Rooney fan I know (which is honestly a little bit of a betrayal) argued that her ability to write without quotation marks and yet have readers understand who is saying what is what makes her so great. Agree to disagree there, but lesson learned: the best part of this enormous language is that everyone wields it differently. 

With this in mind, I set out to write a letter to Sarah Kay:

Dear Sarah, 

I'm Deepti Aggarwal, a high-school student from Troy, Michigan. I just wanted to reach out to you and let you know that your poetry has had a profound impact on the reader, writer, and person I have become. 

I watched your "If I Should Have a Daughter" Ted Talk when I was still young enough to giggle furtively as you said "damn naive", and had the entire, twenty-minute talk memorized within two weeks-- mannerisms and everything. I quickly spiraled down the rabbit-hole of YouTube videos of your life performances, enamored by your poetry and in awe of your fashion sense (I'm not kidding. I don't think there was another wardrobe I've ever wanted more). 

And in retrospect, this was where it all began -- my obsession with reading, my love for writing, my quiet admiration of performance, from Obama's speeches to stand-up comedy routines. I stumbled across "A Bird Made of Birds" a few years ago, and immediately transported in time to when I first discovered your poetry, instantly reminded of how there was nobody who does spoken-word quite like you. 

I could wax poetic forever (ha, get it?!), but I'll stop being a sap now -- I just truly wanted to extend to you my gratitude for all you have done. 

Sincerely, 

Deepti Aggarwal

Proof I sent it!