The Beginning

I can't remember the start

But I know how it began

I read and admired

Marvelous poems whose words

Plucked the strings of my heart

So I emulated first

Rhymes and rhythms

Structure shaped content

Laborious word searches

Syllabic meter counting

And then free verse

Where content shaped structure

No longer bound

Feelings flowed out

I put words to raw emotion

Now poetry is how I bare my heart.