Why I Write Poetry

In English class, predictably,

The teacher told us patiently

About the forms of poetry

And how to write them well.

Entranced by artful imagery

I read them quite ecstatically

And wrote with great tenacity

The stories I could tell.

Yet rarely do I make my vision clear

Excepting times when it has been required.

When I have been artistically inspired,

Elation soon gives way to primal fear.

To make myself so vulnerable, so bare

To all who see my poems, even me--

This angst obscures what needs to be set free

To make myself and others more aware.

I am an artist

Scared by what I'll find within,

Writing anyway.

To me, poetry

Is self-discovery, and

A healing process.

In spite of insecurity

I know I must write poetry

To give my muse some agency

And make myself unwind.

They never come out easily,

These feelings harbored secretly

But I must write on, hopefully

To ease my troubled mind.