To Those Who Hide in Words

By Kenia Torres

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• 

• 

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I told her about the
man who
didn’t even look
real

he doesn’t 
love
And he doesn’t like

And he
has
that           secret

he doesn’t like to talk about 

Process

I have always enjoyed using Canva because it is surprisingly easy to work with and gives me a great variety of options to create projects. Blackout poetry is also one of my favorite types of poetry, and I usually create it with old news articles I find lying around my house. However, with this project, I decided to make something digital and to use some of the pages of one of my favorite books, The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Meet the Pair

Mentee Kenia Torres & Mentor Hannah Sheldon-Dean

Kenia’s Anecdote: Without Hannah, this piece would have just been one more document stored on my computer and sheltered from the rest of the world. Not only does Hannah support my writing by sacrificing so much of her time to work with me, she also gives me the confidence to share my work with others. Whenever I share my work with Hannah, she gives me thoughtful feedback and never judges me for my ideas, no matter how weird they often are. Working together these past two years has been nothing more than good times. Whether we’re working on meeting deadlines or just talking about life in general, I always look forward to our pair meetings.

Hannah’s Anecdote: Kenia was already a great writer when we met, but what’s been amazing for me to witness in our second year together is how much her confidence in her own voice has grown. She revises her work fearlessly, digging through the pieces she’s created and pushing them to do exactly what she wants, whether it’s a bold experimental poem or a perfect college essay. And Kenia does it all while being one of the most original, hilarious people I know— every week I wonder when the Queens Central Library librarians are going to tell us to quiet down and quit laughing, but I hope we (and they) never do.