Hope in an Act of War

Sometimes it is easier to smile,

To tell everyone lies,

Rather than the problems we hide.

I know 'cause I've been there,

In many ways I still am.

So then why on earth do I participate

In something like a poetry slam?

What started with words,

Turned into phrases,

Then to poems that not need praises.

It started with a child,

Once bright and bubbly,

Reluctant to see the world for what it was.

Now here she writes her story.

Unaware of what was to come,

She knew not that poetry would save her.

Now she sees that writting is everything.

Her chance to voice her story,

To tell of her pain,

Fully knowing that others feel the same.

Through her poems she seeks to give

Attention to the wold that is hidden.

A world that most turn a blind eye to.

They choose to refuse the truth:

That people live in pain and misery

Created by their action and words,

The weapons of choice.

She shares her experience,

She searches for hope,

By condeming their actions,

Praying that they see what they have done to me.

For she is what has become of once innocent me.

A girl that I aspire to be.

She is the girl who tells of her insecurities,

The girl who knows she'll be okay.

The girl who understands it's okay to be hurt,

It's okay to ask

That other help her,

So she may help them back.

The girl who knows she's not alone,

That her poems saved her from her demons.

She hopes it does the same for those

Who feel like they can't defeat them.

It's just me and the word,

That I've kept in much too long.

My poems are acts of war,

On what is socially wrong.

A window of hope foe us who suffer,

Wanting them to see the damege.

A window of hope for survival,

'Cause we know we are not alone.

That is what poetry is to me,

A window of truth,

It shows my daily reality.