To be heard is one thing

To be understood is a whole other topic

I don’t want my words to be a fling

They need to be toxic

 

I want others to feel my pain

To grasp the emotion from the page

To see my thoughts are like a stain

Running through my mind on a rampage

 

Don’t just hear me, see me

Look past the page and listen to my heart

Find a voice as you hear me

Once I have written this, I have done my part

 

Know my words and breathe them into your life

For my poem connects to your story

Words in my verse relate to your strife

And that’s okay because I don’t write for the glory

 

I write for me

But you read for you

And knowing that is the key

Because then I get a world view

 

Of what everyone sees on the page

Trading the text with their pain

Each word a strike to the rib cage

Reminding the heart of its chains

 

I don’t write to be heard

Because I don’t want to be heard by anyone

It’s not absurd

I want to be understood by everyone