When everything comes crashing in

And there’s nowhere to go but the wall

I transform my emotions to ink on paper

No one knows the way I feel but

A smile can’t fool my best friend,

My old torn composition book.

 

“Bring your poems tomorrow;

you’ll read them aloud.”

I stood there shaking, staring

At the back of the room where

There they sat, the girls that haunted me

Deep breath- I was beginning to hate this class

 

The minutes lasted years but I finished

“Smiles abound in this great world we live in

Everyone holds a secret behind that smiling mask

It doesn’t matter; I don’t pry.

Some secrets are better unsaid”

Silence preceded applause.

 

The coach who taught was rarely pleased

“Okay, and we are swiftly moving nowhere”-

The statement I most remember him saying

There he stood clapping and smiling

Who would have known honesty

Would win the hearts of all in that room?

 

That day I realized the power of poetry

I could never rhyme well

I could never create clever haikus

But I could be honest- that I could do.

Free verse I learned it was called

It gave a sort of freedom to my mind and pen.

 

I continue to write for freedom.