I was an awkward teen poet

You never know what will come of your awkward teen poetry. A few weeks ago I called Mortified podcast’s hotline to read some of my terrible old poetry that should really never see the light of day. I never thought mine would be chosen for their Tournament of Awkward Teen Poetry, in partnership with the Poetry Foundation.

But when I listened to today’s podcast, there was my name being read, along with a line from a poem I wrote back in high school during creative writing club with one of the best teachers I’ve ever had, Mr. Deitchman. He offered prompts for us every week, but we didn’t have to follow them. We could choose to go as far off topic as we wanted. And sometimes, Mr. Deitchman even shared his own work with us young high schoolers just learning to write. His openness really helped me become more honest and open in my own writing.

But back to Mortified’s tournament. The poem they chose to include a line from is “The Place Between Us,” which won in a tie the “Stephen Patrick Morrissey Award for Writing Totally Depressing Shit” (hilarious, and fake of course, but you bet I’m putting it on my poetry accomplishments. That’s just too funny not to include!)

You can hear the latest Mortified podcast, focusing on a girl who was certain Y2K was going to happen and bring mass destruction, along with the winners of the awkward poetry contest:

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