u/Both_poet17

I used to race through books because I wanted to finish them. Lately, I’ve been doing the opposite with poetry.

I’ve recently started reading a lot more poetry, especially Anne Sexton, and I realized I can’t read a poem without a pen anymore.

I love circling words, writing down what I think they mean, noticing recurring images, and asking myself why a poet chose a particular metaphor or symbol.
I’m definitely not a literature expert, and I know my interpretations aren’t always “correct,” but that’s what makes it enjoyable for me. Every poem feels like a conversation.

Do any of you annotate like this? Have your interpretations of a poem ever changed after rereading it, or do you usually stick with your first impression?