If you are anything like me, you read poetry to feel something. To feel sad, to feel angry, to resonate with the feeling of heartbreak expressed in a piece. Rarely ever, do I find romantic poetry a genre that I vibe with these days. That is until I happened upon a poet climbing the social media ranks named Celia Martinez.

What struck me most was the absolute effortless delivery with which Martinez delivers her poems, almost like she’s just saying what first comes to mind, and in terms of poetry and the complexity of language barriers, that is a rare find.

Her poetry reads like diary entries but follows a rhyme scheme with themes ranging from future love, past love, love as a concept, romance, fictional men, heartbreak, and themes of anxiety and depression as well.

The absolute best thing about Martinez’s collection is her imagery. You can literally picture two people meeting in the street, the young woman carrying bread. How she blushes when the man speaks to her, wondering if he’s actually addressing her or someone else entirely. It’s like paintings of romantic storylines come to life, and it fills the readers soul with such wonder, curiosity, and even dare I say, fulfillment similar to that of a romance novel you can’t stop reading.

I finished Martinez’s collection in two days simply because I had trouble putting it down like an insatiable romance novel, and that to me is poetry done absolutely right in a time of social media and short attention spans.

Thank you Celia for reminding us all that love is possible even if it hasn’t been returned to us yet.