I recollect little on how I was presented with Madisen Kuhn and her works, but even though I don’t remember how it started, I know where her writings are taking me. Madisen Kuhn is more than a seventeen-year-old, Virginia native, but she’s an inspiration, she’s a role model, she’s hope that the future is bright, not only for me, but also for everyone who has some optimism and hope that life is more than what it seems. With her poems, her YouTube videos, her blog she motivates me and spurs my passion for writing, she inspires me from within, and not enough words can describe what an effect she is making on my life.

I believe the first work of Madisen Kuhn’s I was introduced to was her poem “Who are you?” I don’t really recall how I came across it, but honestly I think that poem was one of the first things that really helped opened my eyes to a different perspective. Through that poem, my views, my outlook, my hopes, and my confidence within myself reflected back on me. It made me think of who I really was, and what I want to do with the life I am given. I know many have shown there gratitude for her poem, through tattoos, through letters and messages, but I guess the way I show my gratitude is changing my outlook on life, and my outlook on myself, for the better.

“You are not a name or a height, or a weight? or a gender?
you are not an age and you are not where you are from
you are your favorite books
and the songs stuck in your head
you are your thoughts
and what you eat for breakfast on Saturday mornings.” – m.k.

She helped me realize who I really was, and she made me come to terms with the fact that everything I do, from the books I spend time reading, to the songs I play on Spotify, to the scents of candles I choose to buy, helps shape me into the person I am, and now I’m finally realizing, that I’m content with that.

I read Madisen Kuhn’s work in my free time, it’s a hobby I would put on a bio of myself. I read her work at 2 AM while the police sirens swiftly pass the outskirts of my small town, the airplanes pass by overhead, the sounds of my father and brother snoring on the floor below, the candles melting and the scents arising, my diary opened to a fresh page, while the 16 year old me hiding behind my computer breathes in every line, every word, and the constant desire to unravel the poems and writing lay ahead of me. The best way to spend those early morning hours are there, while the sentence “ I want you to be able to tell that I’m beautiful in a dimly lit room” are on my screen, having me fantasize about the time where that will actually happen for me. I read Madisen Kuhn’s work at 9 AM on my Saturday mornings with a fresh cup of coffee in my hand, and the sun rising, and the scent of bacon and eggs unraveling around me.

“Time is not necessarily wasted?In passing minutes, months, years?We waste time by ?Counting seconds, ?And by letting seconds pass?When we could've made? Those seconds count.” –m.k.

I sip my coffee with hazelnut creamer and snuggle in my blanket, believing that my life starts again every morning. That I should stop reminiscing on what happened the day prior, about the things that didn’t go my way, the people I lost, the people I hurt, the people that hurt me, the people I wish I was, and the life I wish I lived. Her poems help me with my self content, her poems gives me hope that everyday is a new beginning, that if I waste time on the past, on holding the door that’s suppose to close with my foot instead of letting it close, I will never see all the opportunities the future lies ahead for me, the doors that will open when the old, ragged door closes.

Madisen Kuhn may only be a year older than me, but she still remains an inspiration to me. I will always be a devout fan of hers. I realized recently how I shouldn’t be inspired by actresses and models, but by bands, artist and writers. I mean, they just seem more talented to me, they have a passion for something, and they pursue it with their heart. Not to say actresses and models don’t, I guess it’s up to everyone’s own opinion, but to me I have high respect for people who have passion in music and writing, it all starts with an idea, an idea that at the end of the day can be a masterpiece. So I want to thank Madisen Kuhn, for her ideas, that turned into a masterpiece, and I know she has so much more success ahead of her, and I will be a supporter the whole way.

“I'd rather have scars on my cheeks? And a crooked nose and Bad skin and boney hips Or boring eyes and boring hair and a boring mouth ?And someone tell me “You’re beautiful,”??Because I’d know they meant? I am beautiful in the way that I talk,In the way that I listen, in the way that I love, In the way that I am?,Than have Pretty lips and pretty teeth and ?Pretty hair and a pretty nose And ignorantly believe That being beautiful in the way that I look Is enough.” –m.k.