Coming of Age through Poetry in The Poet X

On its surface, The Poet X is a simple coming of age story, spanning the teenage years of Xiomara Batista (X), a first generation Dominican-American young woman. Just like in many such stories, there are conflicts at home, school, and internally that push the heroine to grow into another person. Elizabeth Acevedo sets X and her novel apart by infusing X’s poetry into every line of the story, sweeping the reader up in X’s verses and rhythms.

Xiomara starts out in the novel as a standout among her peers: at 15 she’s taller than girls her age, a little more developed, and one of the first in her class to get noticed by boys and men. She knows how to fight, and does so when she needs to, but Xiomara is on a quest to be more than strong, wanting a place to be human.

It is clear Xiomara will not find that sanctuary at home, as she grapples (sometimes literally) with her Catholic mother and her puritan views on sex and sexuality, and with her twin brother too caught up in his own struggles to be of much support. The world outside home is not much better, as her new boyfriend Aman turns out to be a decent boy, but also not one prepared to fight for Xiomara when she is assaulted by a classmate in the hallways at school. Some light is offered in the form of a teacher who encourages Xiomara’s interest in poetry.

Ultimately, Xiomara has to rely on herself to find the space for her own humanity, through her written words. There is nothing earth-shatteringly tragic in the pages here, but the journey is still beautiful, as Xiomara finds her voice, settles into the nickname X, and finds a way to survive and flourish in the world.

Thank you to the Boston Public Library for recommending The Poet X. It is one of my favorite books that I’ve read this year.