"I am a poet, poetry is my life. I believe that it is not a luxury product, but an aid to life, as basic as comfortable shoes or good glasses. The three most important functions of the poem are that it teaches you to pay attention, stops time, and gives you strength: it can save our lives in our difficult moments - as it happened, for example, to a polar explorer named Mawson, when he was hanging in danger of death in an ice crevasse, or to me, when I was in crisis when I was a teenager. Whoever carries poems in his head and heart is a free man." Anna T. Szabó, poet and writer, was born in Cluj-Napoca in 1972 and moved to Hungary with her family in 1987. He graduated from the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, majoring in Hungarian and English. He completed the English Renaissance and Baroque PhD program and received his Ph.D. He is a member and later a teacher for a few semesters at the József Eötvös Collegium. He started publishing during his university years, publishing poems, essays, and short prose in several daily and monthly newspapers. He is a writer, translator, teacher and editor for the British Council and the Hungarian Book Foundation, and writes articles and reviews. His poems have been translated into many foreign languages. She lives near Budapest with her husband, the writer György Dragomán, and their two children. In his speech, he shares what poetry means to him. The lecture was given on November 14, 2020. Anna T. Szabó is a Hungarian writer born in Transylvania (Romania) in 1972. She moved to Hungary in 1987, studied English and Hungarian literature at the University of Budapest, received her PhD in 2007 and has worked freelance ever since: published eight volumes of poetry, six books for children, three short story collections and received several prizes. She has translated many books and poems, writes essays, articles and plays, performs poetry together with jazz and classical musicians, took part in three popular literary series on television, and participated in several international readings and events. She used to be the poetry editor for The Hungarian Quarterly, and is a member of the Széchenyi Academy of Letters and Arts. She lives near Budapest with her husband the novelist György Dragomán and their two sons. In her talk, she explains what poetry means for her. This talk was given on November 14, 2020. Anna T. Szabó is a Hungarian writer born in Transylvania (Romania) in 1972. She moved to Hungary in 1987, studied English and Hungarian literature at the University of Budapest, received her PhD in 2007 and has worked freelance ever since: published eight volumes of poetry, six books for children, three short story collections and received several prizes. She has translated many books and poems, writes essays, articles and plays, performs poetry together with jazz and classical musicians, took part in three popular literary series on television, and participated in several international readings and events. She used to be the poetry editor for The Hungarian Quarterly, and is a member of the Széchenyi Academy of Letters and Arts. She lives near Budapest with her husband the novelist György Dragomán and their two sons. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx