Why I Write

Location

For as long as I can remember, the written word has been my roadmap

the only one I've ever followed without asking for directions

because each twist and turn has charted itself into the curves of my arteries, the straights of my veins

I am navigating my own bloodstream

swimming into a silence that swallowed all of my dictionary shortcuts

and said no

you are the pen on your own paper

these poems must bloom like bruises

breaking the red vessels beneath

in a purple-blue fire

burning the floorboards from the hull of my ship

there is no such thing as smooth sailing

no method for swerving around the fissures that form

the first time your father hits you

and I never learned how to tell the truth

I just learned how to write poems

they say that is good enough

maybe someday I'll believe them

 

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