Five year old Ariti Dorsey sits in the cozy living room of her home with her mother, as the voice of Maya Angelou’s poetry fills the air from the CD player. Years later, Maya Angelou’s words and strength still echo within Ariti, encouraging her to write her own poetry.

Now, as a senior, Ariti has written over 5,000 poems.

“[I use poetry] to give myself a voice that doesn’t [normally] exist because I’m a little awkward with starting conversations with people,” said Ariti. “I don’t really like to talk, so poetry is how I talk.”

When Ariti writes a poem, it’s spontaneous. “It’s a reflection of what [I’m] thinking,” said Ariti.

The personalization aspect of poetry also appeals to Ariti. “It can be personalized according to you,” said Ariti. “There’s not just one interpretation of it, each person can read it and have a different view of what it means.’’

Another thing that draws Ariti to poetry is power. Ariti sees poetry as a powerful  way to influence others. “Poetry is powerful it can influence how you feel and it encourages you to think deeper than what meets the eye,” said Ariti. “[Poetry has] rhythm and any type of poetry can have the power to do anything. Without poetry, literature would be boring. Poetry gives literature variety,” said Ariti.

As for the future of Ariti’s writing, she plans to go to school to study journalism and education. In addition, she plans to create a book featuring all her poetry. Ariti aspires to also create an organization for kids to be able to write poetry to articulate their inner thoughts and the message they want to be sent, because, as she says, “poetry is powerful. It really is.”