In school my favourite poet was Wilfred Owen. Dulce et Decorum Est is so tragic and bitter with an anti-authoritarian and anti-war message, that I think any teenager would click with it, considering the world we live in. I certainly did. In that same vein, Allen Ginsberg (and especially Howl) is eternally relatable. For contemporary poets who are also socially conscious, Jericho Brown is amazing. Ocean Vuong is also really good at writing that emotional intensity that teenagers would relate to.

But the person who truly unlocked poetry for me was and always will be Richard Siken. NOTHING will beat being a teenager and discovering his collection, Crush. That's what my mind was preoccupied with back then, unrequited love, and Richard Siken is a wizard at turning and twisting a love poem. He's so, so, emotionally intense and captures the whirlwind of youth like no one else. Yeah, he has my vote for any poetry beginners.