A Way to Be Me

There was always a way to express

In words that said more than I could.

Poetry allowed for my words to be images,

Strength and courage came from them.

It all started in the 8^th grade

The teacher assigned the Poetic Task,

Ever since I’ve been writing and expressing.

Through the years many poems have come from experiences-

Some made up and others part of a whole.

Writing them has gotten easier as I have learned,

Taking from not only my struggles, but also the words of Emily Dickinson.

There was always a way of having a voice

It was within the words in the poems.

I became a poet not because of the grade, but because of the words.

With poetry I can say what I want, pour out my feelings on to the page,

No one knows exactly what I mean, because my life is up to interpretation-

Poetry has given me that option; that bit of control I’ve always lacked.

Poetry made my words landscapes, portraits, and political cartoons perhaps