Conversation

To speak clearly and attentively

So much energy is used.

Yet, when I write

I don't need to please an audience

I don't need outside validation

Poetry forces me to dissect my mind

Regardless of how I'm feeling

Regardless of who may read it.

Nor do I become tongue-tied,

Wide-eyed,

Cautious.

It's the purest form of self-expression,

To write freely without intervention

Euphoric, even.

I no longer tense up

I'm in a conversation with only myself.