No Rules

Poetry doesn’t have rules

Just like life

It has guidelines that almost everyone follows

Of course

To be successful

You must follow the rules

Or so they say

Or so I tell myself

Life has rules

Maybe

Not

 

Poetry doesn’t have rules

Just like life

But I try to follow the rules

I want to follow the rules

But the rules keep me in a cage

A gilded cage that all the other birds look at

And admire

And want to be in

But they don’t see the lock and key

They just see the Handler giving me more attention

And praise

Sometimes

I wish the Handler didn’t even notice me

That I was just like all of the other birds 

At least I’d be free

At least there wouldn’t be standards everyone would hold me up to

That nobody could ever meet

I would be able to fly

i can barely spread my wings in this cage

I pretend to not hear all the other birds chattering about me

How I’m the Handler’s favorite

How I ask for it

By singing my song

My song is not for the Handler

it is just what I do

The Handler just happens to like it

Life has rules

maybe

not

 

poetry doesn’t have rules

just like life

sometimes i wish my brain wouldn’t

hold me

to other people’s standards

sometimes i wish 

i could just 

express the everything building up inside of me

boiling underneath the surface 

i let it out through poetry that

i don’t let anybody that i know read;

the cage is all i know.

 

life doesn’t have rules

just like poetry

but everyone has rules for me

they dont even know that their rules exist

maybe they do

i would give anything to walk a mile in their shoes

 everyone i tell this to say

that nobody holds me up to a standard

and so what if they do?

just stop caring

i wish it was that easy

i wish i wouldn’t let my brain 

tell me 

when i try to go to sleep

that everyone hates me

that i should be embarrassed for honest mistakes

that i should be ashamed for things i did years ago

that i should never forgive myself for any little thing that i do wrong

that if i wasnt so terrible that maybe 

everyone would like me

that its all my fault

and sometimes i wish

i could 

just

 

break

 

 

free