“21” by Patrick Roche

I’m not a big fan of poetry. My exposure to poetry has consisted of poetry units in English classes over the years, which I’ve disliked.

For me, poetry has been something to get through as quickly and painlessly as possible. Sometimes the teachers didn’t seem to enjoy it either, and sometimes the teachers seemed to enjoy it too much — so much so that I couldn’t understand why they liked these poems so much.

But there is one poem that I have actually liked. I found it myself last summer, actually, after high school was over. It’s the one poem that, when I heard it, made me think, “maybe there’s something to poetry after all.”

I’m still not a fan of poetry. But now that I’ve found one poem that I appreciate, maybe those English teachers over the years weren’t so crazy.

That one poem is “21” by Patrick Roche. I highly suggest that you watch him perform it — it will only take three minutes. I cried the first time I watched it.