Cecelia Allentuck penned her first book of poetry, “I’ll See You Tomorrow,” which was No. 1 on Amazon’s new release list in the Poetry for Teens & Young Adults category.
Reminder Publishing submitted photos
LONGMEADOW — When Cecelia Allentuck, 18, released her book of poems this month, she never imagined it would top the charts as Amazon’s best-seller in the Poetry for Teens & Young Adults category. The book was No. 1 on the new release list and stayed there for nearly two weeks. It was the first time the Longmeadow author has written any kind of book.
“It feels strange to be a published poet,” Allentuck told Reminder Publishing. “I’m mostly proud of the little girl in me — the second grader, the seventh grader, the ninth grader — who didn’t think this would ever happen and would always dream of it.”
Allentuck plans to attend the University of St. Andrews in Scotland this fall where she’ll study modern language. She graduated from Longmeadow High School last spring.
“I’ll See You Tomorrow” is a 62-page book containing 30 poems, split evenly into two sections. The first focuses on the grief of her younger years, while the second highlights recovery and “The excitement of going into the world and finding adventures — taking those first experiences and not letting them go, but not letting them hold you back from what you really aspire to do,” Allentuck said.
The title of the book was inspired by a joyful, terrible time in Allentuck’s life. A woman named Patty had been babysitting her for 10 years. The preteen may have thought the woman would live forever because Patty told her young charge she was 100 years old — and the child had no reason to doubt that. Today, Allentuck realizes Patty was probably around 70.
At the end of every day, Allentuck said she told Patty, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” and they always did, until Patty died of lung cancer when Allentuck was 12.
“I used to say, ‘Bye and I love you,’” recalled the Longmeadow teen. “When she died, we didn’t get to see each other tomorrow.”
That devastating loss eventually became a foundation of hope, which is the theme of the poet’s book.
“I want people to know there will be a tomorrow, past all the things that have happened to us, past all the things we’ve done that we’re not super proud of — there will be a tomorrow, and that tomorrow is new, and there’s love, even past grief,” she said.
Allentuck remembers writing poetry in the second grade. She was reflecting on life even back then, on what was going wrong and how to make it right. More recently, it’s been a lot like journaling.
“It has really helped me navigate the emotions of going into senior year of high school and a lot of milestones with people that I’ve lost. A lot of these poems were written in times of distress and sadness, so it helped me get those feelings out on the page so I could move forward with my life,” she shared.
Allentuck said she wants to study in Europe because she’ll be exposed to different languages across the continent. She’s also interested in anthropology. While she’s unsure how she’ll put it all together, she’s certain she’ll have a career based on writing.
“I want to serve people around the world. I’m really interested in education and women’s health issues in developing areas. That’s kind of a niche topic, but I’m really excited to narrow it down in school,” she said.
The title of Allentuck’s book came to her as she was falling asleep one night. When she woke up the next morning, she wrote it down and began looking for work that would fit the theme.
“I loved finding my old poems and writing new ones. I especially loved formatting and writing titles for those poems—putting them in a one collective whole so they’re not fragmented pieces of myself, but a full piece of myself,” she said.
Allentuck said she can be anxious, so as she approached her publication date, she was nervous about everything that would happen.
“I was shaky and I was like, ‘I don’t want people to read it,’ because it comes from a lot of vulnerable parts of me. I was also nervous that people wouldn’t like it and would think I was weird. I’m just glad people are reading and loving it,” she said.
“I’ll see you tomorrow” may have been the last words Allentuck said to Patty, but the Longmeadow poet hopes her title inspires new beginnings for her readers.
“I hope it reaches people who are struggling, especially young people. I’m a young girl, so I really feel people can relate to it and feel not as alone, and that there is someone saying, ‘Bye, love you,’” she said. “It’s the idea we’ll be here tomorrow, even if we’re sad about the past. I don’t want people to feel alone.”
“I’ll See You Tomorrow” is self-published and sells for $12.99 on Amazon.
