Allie Marini : part two

2. How did you first engage with poetry?

I’m not entirely sure, to be honest. My mom was a Latin teacher, so she used to read Bulfinch’s mythology to me, & Shel Silverstein in rotation as a child – I went through a creepy-girl obligatory Poe phase when I was around 12, but the first poetry I remember buying for myself in middle school was a collection called Ain’t I a Woman?, then I found Margaret Atwood’s Collected Poems I & II at a library yard sale. In 8th grade when I was having problems with bullying & self-harm, my English teacher noticed & gave me a blank notebook & a copy of Ariel.