Poetry is an art form that can take years to perfect, but nowadays it has been transformed into a universal language that is used to tell personal stories or make statements about societal issues. Whether it is in the form of a sestina or a haiku, poetry can really resonate for some people. Poets have adopted this art form to make it their own and the results are truly inspiring. There are so many poems and poets that I absolutely adore, but I have gathered ten that have stuck with me.

1. "What I Wish Someone Told Me About Having Sex" by Daysha Edewi

Originally from Cambridge, Massachusetts, Daysha Edewi is currently a video producer at Buzzfeed. She has extensive film experience and dreams of becoming a director and screenwriter. Not only has she participated in many hundreds of Buzzfeed videos, but she has utilized this platform to share her spoken word poetry online. They are often deeply personal monologues that carry deep emotion and that are accompanied by a visual film, which evokes further emotion. This particular poem is about sex and how people who participate in sexual intimacy with each other often do not talk about the emotional or mental side effects of sex.

2. "Somewhere in America" by Belissa Escoloedo, Zariya Allen, & Rhiannon McGavin

This particular poem is performed by three young women, saying words sometimes in unison, but when they are not these women never miss a beat. Belissa Escoloedo and Rhiannon McGavin are both "Get Lit Players", which is an award winning performance troupe of teenagers from high schools throughout Los Angeles County. Belissa has performed amongst esteemed activists and volunteers in children's theatre productions and homeless shelters. Rhiannon, like Belissa, has also performed amongst esteemed activists and has vehemently spoken out against sexual violence and was honored as an "Influencer" at the 2014 March to End Sex Trafficking in LA. Rhiannon also has a YouTube channel. Zariya is a writer, poet, songwriter, and singer who currently has tracks on SoundCloud. This powerful poem has been viewed over 50 million times on YouTube and was performed on national television. It covers themes of history that is left out of school textbooks, education, and the expectations of both teacher and student.

3. "Mid-week Sessions" by Rupi Kaur

Rupi Kaur is an artist and writer currently living in Toronto, Canada and who is also an immigrant from India. Her highly acclaimed book, a collection of her drawings and poetry called milk and honey, carries themes of love, loss, abuse, femininity and empowerment. Her poems are beautifully simple and are accompanied by small sketches. They often cover difficult topics and resonate deeply with some readers. Below is one of her many poems which covers the unfortunate topic of child sexual abuse:

4. "The Bride" by Emi Mahmoud

Emi Mahmoud is originally from a town in Darfur and has recently graduated from Yale University after studying Anthropology and Molecular Biology. She hopes to one day help structural disparities on maternal and child health in underdeveloped communities. Emi also taught spoken word poetry on Yale campus and was also involved in the Yale Refugee Project. This powerful poem talks about child, forced marriage and the ways in which young women are treated and expected to behave in certain households that label it as "tradition."

5. "Unsolicited Advice" by Tonya Ingram

As Tonya puts it herself, she is a "Bronx-bred introvert." She is a New York University alumna and an incredible poet, writer, and performer. Her poems are not only heart wrenching, but they hold a power that intrigues audiences. Many of her poems discuss her stories and struggles she has faced as an African American woman, her family, love life, and more. This poem, which was inspired by Jeanann Verlee, compiles a series of memories from her lifetime, while still coming back to one particular haunting line: "When your best friend's father invites you over, say no."

6. "Almosts" by Bianca Phipps

Bianca Phipps is based in Chicago and is originally from San Antonio, Texas. She has a BA in acting from the University of Northern Colorado and she has written a book about written and spoken word called "White River Happiness". Her poem, "Almosts" is the painful and touching story of a lost loved one and the special communication they had.

7. "Iatrogenic" by Rafael Campo

Rafael Campo is a graduate from Amherst College and Harvard Medical School. He holds the unique profession of being both a doctor and a poet. Being a gay, Latino man, he currently practices general internal medicine that primarily serves Latino/a LGBTQ people and people with HIV infection. His poems are often short narratives of different parts of his life and he often discusses his sexuality, his race and ethnicity, and the patients he has encountered in his practice that have resonated with him:

You say, “I do this to myself.” Outside,
my other patients wait. Maybe snow falls;
we’re all just waiting for our deaths to come,
we’re all just hoping it won’t hurt too much.
You say, “It makes it seem less lonely here.”
I study them, as if the deep red cuts
were only wounds, as if they didn’t hurt
so much. The way you hold your upturned arms,
the cuts seem aimed at your unshaven face.
Outside, my other patients wait their turns.
I run gloved fingertips along their course,
as if I could touch pain itself, as if
by touching pain I might alleviate
my own despair. You say, “It’s snowing, Doc.”
The snow, instead of howling, soundlessly
comes down. I think you think it’s beautiful;
I say, “This isn’t all about the snow,
is it?” The way you hold your upturned arms,
I think about embracing you, but don’t.
I think, “We do this to ourselves.” I think
the falling snow explains itself to us,
blinding, faceless, and so deeply wounding.

8. "Friend Zone" by Dylan Garity

Dylan Garity graduated from Macalester College with honors in 2012. He has been featured on both the Huffington Post and Upworthy and is a reoccurring poet on Button Poetry. His poems talk about a wide range of topics, but this poem covers the all too common term known as the "Friend Zone". In his poem, he at first relates to its sentiments, but slowly begins to analyze the term and pick it apart to reveal the sexist realities behind this complaint. A line that sticks out to me the most is: "The stranger in the alley is real, but not as real as we are".

9. OCD by Neil Hilborn

Neil Hilborn is also an alum of Malcester College. He has won many awards because of his poetry and this powerful poem has been viewed on YouTube over 10 million times after it went viral. His first debut full-length book is called "Our Numbered Days" and his chapbook is called "Clatter." "OCD" tells the story of Neil's struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and how it had affected one of his relationships. This spoken word poem uniquely incorporates the use of repetition to represent "tics" and is relayed passionately.

10. "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen

This poem is much older, as it was written in October of 1917, but it is a poem I have studied and that still sticks to my mind. Wilfred Owen was an English poet and soldier in World War I. He was the leading war poet at the time and was known for writing about the searing truth behind war and the dark brutalities that come with it. This is one of his most popular poems, written in response to the saying "Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori" which translates to: "It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country":

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.