Why I write ...(Spring Sports)

My first memory of being drawn to literature came in the seventh grade at Montgomery Bell Academy, an allboys school in Nashville, Tenn. We were studying the poetry of Robert Frost and Edgar Allan Poe. I remember being mesmerized by Frost's use of iambic tetrameter in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and Poe's use of alliteration in "The Raven." It was the first time in my life that written words moved me. Then and there, I began to be captivated by writing. I started penning my own poetry--casting consonance aside--and tried to capture my thoughts and feelings about life in poetic form. At my teacher's urging, I entered a haiku in a regional competition and wound up winning. When …