A Story In Verse

“I started to see the estranged skin of my personality prying open the toiled thin layer so underneath the colors could breathe”  is a line in sophomore Elle Young’s poetry book, which describes finding oneself from insecurity. On Aug. 18, 2023, Young published her book “When Time Carries Light,” a collection of poems that she wrote and compiled throughout 8th and 9th grade. 

Young had not originally started writing poetry with the goal of publishing her works into a book. She began her poetry journey in April of 2021 as a way of expressing her emotions, as her poems would help her organize her thoughts in times when she felt overwhelmed. For instance, if Young was having a bad day but unsure why, she would let her emotions out in her poems which she read later to help herself process the emotions she was going through. Young would often share her work with some of her friends, including sophomore Maddie Tseng. Even though the poems are centered around Young’s emotions, Tseng found them quite relatable.

“[Young] is good at creating a specific emotion or mood throughout her poetry,” Tseng said. “[Her poetry] makes me feel how she wants me to feel. If she is writing something sadder, I feel more melancholic afterward, and if she is writing something happier, I am moved to feel more joyous afterward.” 

English 1, English 1 Honors and English 2 Honors teacher Christine Logan was a big advocate of Young in her poetry journey. As Young’s freshman English teacher, Logan quickly noticed her outstanding writing abilities. Logan recalls that Young excelled in any creative writing assignments and that she was very deliberate with her diction which allowed her to convey her sharp emotions to the readers. Impressed with this, Logan continually pushed Young to write and showed appreciation for what she was producing, which motivated Young to write even at times when she felt discouraged. Young later showed appreciation toward Logan in the acknowledgments of “When Time Carries Light”.

“[Young] was writing all the time, both for my assignments and her own endeavors,” Logan said. “She celebrates language. She loves writing and she loves words. There was an assignment [I assigned] where everyone wrote something on the spot, and Young’s ended up being amazingly polished. She then read out loud to us, and even the way she read it was expressive. The fact that she could compose it in just a few minutes and then was ready to share it with all of us really wowed the entire class and me.”

Young’s book includes 60 poems that accumulated over her 8th and 9th grade years, divided into three parts. Young’s poetry portrays her growth and self-discovery. While Young enjoyed the creative aspect of writing poetry through her illustrative words, she did not necessarily enjoy editing for the book. She had finished writing the book by Thanksgiving of 2021, but it was not until the summer of 2022 that she finished editing it. A milestone for Young was the publishing of a paperback version of her book in March of 2024. She felt that as a reader, she would prefer a physical book, so she wanted to provide that opportunity to her audience. The physical book also gave Young a tangible reward for all her hard work. 

Writing poetry has helped Young process feelings of loneliness and anxiety throughout high school. Initially, Young felt that she did not have a community because she did not share her poetry with anyone besides her close friends. Eventually, she shared her poems with a wider audience through the publication of the book, as well as her Instagram and TikTok accounts, @thepoetelle. When someone connects with her poems and reaches out to her, Young feels she is not alone in what she is going through. 

“A lot of my [poems] are not necessarily about ‘finding myself,’ but [realizing] and being okay with the fact that I did not understand myself fully,” Young said. “There are so many clubs, extracurriculars, classes and social groups in high school that I found it very difficult to find my own. When I did not click with a certain social group, I lost grip of where I belonged. Writing poetry helped me understand that I have a place.”