Potency of the Poem

Is poetry just a list of words that seem to rhyme,

Are poems worth anything to me? A dollar, a nickel, a dime?

What is it, that makes this language stronger than an essay, stronger than a book,

Could it be, a poem sends out is hook?

A hook that catches emotions and swirls them around like a wave in the ocean,

Each time one laughs, one cries, one smiles, is one more shared emotion.

Some think poems are stupid, some think they are dumb,

Some have the power to hit home hard, and make you numb,

They take the beating heart, releasing all of the tears, the blood, the hatred once felt,

A poem is sometimes the only thing holding me up, like a simple brown belt.

Months go by, a book that was once empty is now full,

Just like my heart, a par of me in my life that was once dull

Poems are the medication, the therapist, the listener in deed,

A poem sometimes is really the only thing I want; the only thing I need.

So what is a poem to you? What is a poem to me?

Is it the difference between being sad or feeling happy?

Only he/she who writes will ever know the power of a poem written down,

Either it will alleviate the pain, or simply make one drown.

~AW