Every reader and lover of books has a writer who has changed their life. For some, it’s Stephenie Meyer, author of the beloved Twilight Saga. For others, it’s Harry Potter’s “mum,” J.K. Rowling.
For me, it was Jan Beatty. Poet.
Many, many years ago, a busy, sometimes moody, would-be writer, college junior sat down to a poetry reading by Jan Beatty. And I was mesmerized. This woman with the short, spiky, platinum hair wrote about love and men in a way that I’d never heard it before (and at that age and in that stage of life, let’s face it, guys were always in the back of a young woman’s mind). Beatty didn’t make it all lacy and flowery and happily-ever-after. She made it plain and honest and to the point. Sometimes love sucks. It’s often messy, literally and figuratively. It’s always real.
Further confirming my adoration of this woman of words was her inscription to me in her book Mad River:
To Elizabeth – Write many wild poems!
That was all the freedom I needed to push me off the precipice of careful verse and end rhymes that had never quite felt right to me. This was a proud, brave woman who had put it all out there for people to read and judge. I could do that. I could be that. You can do that too – let the writers and artists who inspire you push you to greater scribbling feats, experiments, and possibilities.
In “Love Poem” Beatty writes:
I think now I can
wear my red dress again.
It’s simple and cotton but
it’s always meant desire to me.
I’ll wear red and some silver necklace
that’s much too large. I’ll eat a lot of pasta.
I’ll dance much too long.
(from Mad River by Jan Beatty, ©1995)
In 2002, Beatty’s collection Boneshaker appeared, but I didn’t find it until last year (blasphemy, I know… but I was still so in love with Mad River I hadn’t bothered to look and see what was new in her life!). Then, a second discovery: the collection Red Sugar. These books showcase a new Jan – she plays a lot with form and italics. I appreciate them. I reread them. They hold new joys for the now grown-up me. But Mad River will always be my first love.
Further reading: Jan has a website where you can read selected poems from all three poetry collections.
Get the book: Mad River (like you had to ask).
Please share. What book – poetry or otherwise – has changed your life?
Novel Novice 
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