I don't write because my poems create

floral borders around my resumes and college applications

No, 

I started writing after my third grade teacher persuaded me how 

My writing was different from the other girls.

I started writing in 99 cent notebooks during the free writing time when

most of my friends were watching the clock

waiting for an end to their uncomfortable date with the blank sheet...

I engrossed myself in the page and 

dived in between the lines and

told her my deepest secrets.

Yes, they were dark.

Most of my poems are.

But their comforting hands on my shoulder keeps me positive when

Dad's ran off to a homeless shelter and 

Mom's knee pain is visibally destroying her... 

While this happens I can write a good poem

I can cope with what everyone has to cope with

I can release myself from the pain,

I release.