I had decided long before I identified with being the amateur poet that I am

That I would restrain myself from ever constructing a poem

About poetry

I mean, sure some of the greats like Bukowski did it

But let's be honest

My name isn't destined to be hung in any poetic hall of fame

And I don't deserve to even be compared to Bukowski

So I had sworn to never write a piece about writing

 

And yet,

Here I am

In the middle of history class

Scribbling just that on a forsaken piece of notebook paper

 

A couple weeks ago a group of my ever so lovely peers began to lecture...

About how they didn't understand "people like me"

That almost religiously write poetry

They bombarded me with questions like:

"What do you get out of it?"

And even had the audacity to suggest that

Nowaday's literature, especially poetry,

Had no practical place in society

 

I don't know

Maybe it was the thunderstorm of emotions boiling beneath my skin

Or maybe I just had the desire to try and somehow seek revenge for their comments

But I decided the only way I knew how to explain why people

"Like me"

Write poetry

Was through a poem

 

Ironically,

I couldn't p

ut all my reasons into words

There’re just too many

 

So I had to stop at ten

 

Reason 1

We write to avoid doing homework

See we'd rather spend hours

Of what could be used to solve math problems or massacre the dust bunnies bouncing throughout our homes

To scribble thoughts we may never return to into beat up notebooks we thought we lost 2 years ago

People like me: we like late nights

 

Reason 2

We write to answer the questions we don't understand ourselves

And no,

I am not talking about the math problems

 

Reason 3

People like me, we worry

So we write to make mountains out of molehills

To warn the world of the fears

They may have never even thought to think of

 

Reason 4

We write because we listen

To the voices everyone else has drowned with stereos and a lack of compassion

And because we hear those voices

As if they were our own

 

Reason 5

We write to stitch each other together

When everything else is falling apart at the seams

So that grocery stores visits aren't scarred with the sight of us sobbing

Over our mother's favorite fruit

So that we can drive down that road next to the graveyard

A childhood friend was just buried a few months ago

 

Reason 6

We write so that after staying up late to finish that math homework we were putting off

Our dreams might bring peace to our mind

Instead of war

 

Reason 7

People like me,

We write to slay the dragons of our world

Before they slay us

We write so that we can be the hero

Instead of having to wait for one to come

 

Reason 8

We write in the hopes

That there are people out there still willing to read

 

Reason 9

We write because we want to be understood

By people like you

Because in reality we aren't that different

No matter how much either of us may try to deny it

 

Reason 10

People like me

Write because we have to

Because

We don't have the slightest idea

How not to