HI THERE!
Welcome to Poetry Undiluted! My name is Alina Martel, and I am a poet and saxophonist studying neuroscience at Yale University. Both a scientist and artist at heart, I have a wide range of passions. On some days, you’ll find me researching the biological bases of mental health disorders (I work in my school’s Molecular Psychiatry department—pretty cool stuff). On others, I’ll be holed up in the library, searching for words that almost rhyme, but don’t. Any free hours in between are filled with reading, perfecting my coffee craftsmanship, and debating whether I need a jacket.
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And then there’s this. This is my favorite.
We all have something that makes us feel unequivocally alive. For me, it’s writing poetry. I’ve yet to find any sensation comparable to that of creating something from nothing. There is magic in it. What’s more, there is magic in sharing it. As you explore this site, I hope my poems and photos offer you an experience, that they bring emotion and intensity—something personal. Worthwhile.
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Thank you for reading.
STILL HERE?
Read on to learn more about this website's origin, the inspiration for my poetry, and other factual nibbles.
The idea behind Poetry Undiluted materialized during my first year of college. After years of sharing my poetry with a close circle of family, friends, and teachers, I felt supported (and confident) enough to seek a larger audience. To do this, I needed an accessible, comprehensive way to showcase my writing. The solution was clear: an online portfolio!
Featuring the best of my work, Poetry Undiluted is home to a whole kaleidoscope of poems. Here, you'll find poems about people, poems about love, and poems about time. You will also find poems about none of these things. One common feature remains: each work contains an undiluted piece of me.
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Every verse that I create is a combination of my experiences, influences, and most profound sentiments. This site's poetry archive is the closest I have gotten to approximating the contents of my soul. For me, poetry is the ultimate—an incomparable release. It is a way to think and to feel. It is also a way to do neither. Whether the world feels frighteningly large or achingly small, poems are a potent medicine—a catalyst for resilience and understanding. This is why I write. It is also why I share.
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Reading poems can be just as fulfilling as composing them. As stated above, I hope that these verses bring you value—that something you read will echo your experiences, call back a long-forgotten emotion, or reawaken a distant moment. Perhaps you'll feel puzzled, enchanted, appalled. Perhaps you will feel nothing at all. This can go many ways.
Regardless of the outcome, I hope that your visit is memorable and that we meet again. Until then, I give you my best.
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Cheers,
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Alina Martel
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