Alexa Aguirre was only 10 years old when she wrote her first poem — an admiration of her mother’s eyes. Poetry provides an outlet for her emotions, she said, because it’s easier for her to express her feelings on paper to connect with others. “Words are such a big way for people to connect,” Alexa said.
Alexa, 14, was born in Richland, Washington, and when she was 3 years old, she moved to Salem. She attends Sprague High School as a sophomore. Alexa has looked up to writers her whole life, especially her mother, Jeanette Aguirre, from whom she has learned everything about writing.
Aguirre is a counselor at Roberts Structured Learning Center in Salem, which offers non-traditional educational programs for students who have been expelled from other Salem-Keizer School District schools. Alexa said her mother is writing a book inspired by her students. She said her mother dislikes her students being portrayed as “bad kids.
” “She may not become an incredibly famous author,” Alexa said, “but she will write a book before she dies.” As for Alexa, she’s determined to get her poetry published. Alexa said she has sudden bursts of motivation, and the inability to stop once she starts writing, so it comes easily to her.
She has written 15 poems, including the one about the beauty in her mother’s eyes, one about an old couple in matching clothes and two toddlers who excitedly showed off their toys. For inspiration, Alexa likes to take note of things she sees in nature, such as plants or bugs, and scenes she sees in her everyday life. “I like writing about small, unnoticeable things,” she said, “and making them sound big.
” Shel Silverstein’s children’s poetry books were Alexa’s ultimate motivation to start writing. “It makes me feel glad to be human” so she can read works like Silverstein’s poetry. Her favorite poem is one she wrote in June.
The poem, which she has yet to name, is about her old self, and how she has changed over the years. “But I love every version of me, the ones I’ve surpassed and the ones to come,” she said. “I carry a piece of everyone I’ve ever met with me.
I have laughter in my pockets and smiles in the soles of my shoes.”.
