I have a date with
I have a date with a doctor, or
Perhaps he's a lawyer or an engineer, and
he says, "Why write?"
I look up from my pretense
My dinner, my courtesy, my mask,
And he sees something he fears:
Passion.
"Why do I write, sir?
Why do you breathe?"
"Because,"
he says,
"Breathing is necessary for all life.
I exist because I breathe."
I breathe.
"You breathe for you,"
I say.
"I write for you
as well as me.
I write for the downtrod,
the starving artists, the lawyers and
doctors and engineers, the president
and kings and queens.
I write to feel,
I write to know,
I write to live."
He fumbles with words.
I do not. "I write
because I accept myself and you and you and you, and you,
You breathe to live today.
I write so everyone
Has a chance for tomorrow.
I write for you. I write for fantasy. I write for love.
I write for me.
I write for God.
I write because I'm a writer."
He frowns. "But you can't make - "
I leave the table and stride out.
I can make anything.
I am a writer.
I write to live today, yesterday, tomorrow.
I write for you.