Poetry gave actress Lili Reinhart a way to connect with her emotions, and her debut poetry collection is a testament to her love for poetry. On September 29, the date of her book’s release, Reinhart spoke in a virtual conversation with international bestselling poet Lang Leav organized by Vroman’s Bookstore about her creative process behind her first poetry book Swimming Lessons: Poems.
The Riverdale actress said that poetry has been significant to her since she started reading it avidly at the age of 16. As a teenager moving away from her hometown and her family, she felt isolated and turned to poetic works of others for comfort. The actress said that reading poetry helped her feel more connected to others as she resonated with the emotions portrayed in those works: “I fell in love with poetry when I realized that poetry was something I could turn to when I felt that I couldn’t come up with the right words myself to express how I was feeling.”
The actress said that her poetic works emerge out of her genuine thoughts and feelings of that moment, and she cannot recreate that emotion on a separate occasion. “Once I’ve written something, it’s hard for me to expand upon it on a different day,” Reinhart said. “It’s coming from a moment, it’s coming from a train of thought and it’s hard to go back and expand upon that- it’s already happened.”
With her debut poetry collection, Reinhart proves that her artistic genius is just as powerful on the page as it is on the screen. Swimming Lessons: Poems gives fans a deeper look into Reinhart’s creative mind and captures the beauty of emotional connection.