F is Poetry

Thou is a rose on summer’s day….

They told me there was no wrong way to interpret Shakespeare’s lines of poem

But can you believe I got an F in poetry?!

Perhaps you can.

Maybe you don’t find this to be much of a poem.

But I’m telling you, I tried REALLY HARD to understand poetry!

I went to class

I listened to the lectures and discussions

I did all my homework

I studied for the quizzes

It didn’t matter

I kept being told I was

Wrong

Wrong

Wrong

So I slammed the door on poetry

I wrote it off

Until a creative writing teacher introduced me to

Slam poetry

Poetry meant to be performed and spoken

Sometimes with humor, sadness, and joy

That was my poetry

Afterall, I love the drama of Shakespeare’s plays

I just couldn’t figure out his mourning love poems

Where was the disconnect?

It was in the performance of it all!

With a click a knew that my mind creates poetry in slam

Meant to be spoken with the rhythm the writer and speaker chooses with varying speed and intensity

THIS WAS HOW I COULD TELL ALL MY LIFE STORY!

In fragments of thought and emotion

It was poetry that made sense to me

Poetry where I could rant and rave

I pretend to be no expert.

And I don’t care if I’m slamming wrong.

Because I was told there is no wrong way to interpret,

And I will NOT give myself an F.