Lina Ramona Vitkauskas

Yes. I grew up in a Lithuanian household, so poetry, art, and classical music were subjects we were taught to respect. There were some traditional Lithuanian poets taught at my Lithuanian school, but by the time I was in high school—like every brooding goth kid—I was reading Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, but I was particularly drawn to Surrealism. I would not be exposed to Surrealist, Dada, or Cubist poetry, however, until about age 19, in college (Breton, Tzara, Mina Loy, Apollonaire). 

College - around 19. I was writing short stories for quite awhile, then I learned that my fragmented, tangential mindset didn't seem to fit the linear, narrative nature of prose. Poetry felt more natural to me as a form of expression.

To make people think. Also to be the unsung legislators (Shelley).