The Thing About Being A Poet Is...

The Thing About Being A Poet Is…

Everyone thinks you’re a liar
They assume you know just what to say
How to say it prettily, and most important
That you can do this without meaning
....a single word of it

It’s true. Lying is part of being a poet
But that’s not the whole story
There is poetry in a poet’s soul—simple as that
No one should be skeptical of this
There is poetry in anyone who
....has ever watched someone die
Or else has watched someone live
If you’ve fallen in love and knew it was
....a bad match, but fell in love anyway
Then you know what poetry is
Or else if you’ve fallen out of love
Because it was just the right thing to do

Poetry is when you get tired of listening
....to the thoughts racing through your mind
Like noisy children at bedtime
You attempt to tuck the words in neatly and covered
So that you can get some peace for a few hours

Poetry isn’t dewy meadows and songbirds

It's obsession, because you don’t even understand
....the aloofness in your own heart. Poetry is
When you realize you hate your father
Because he never taught you how to fish
It is having nothing to lose, and taking the risk
....to lose even more
By taking a blank page, pure and perfect
Totally untouched, and reveling in its defilement
Because something inside makes you write
And even when the words come out right
They don’t come out just right
It doesn’t take long before you have something more
To say about something

The thing about being a poet
It is a surrendering to depravity
And you wished you really were lying. You wish
....you really didn’t mean those words
Because the poetry you write are truths
About yourself, that loiter
Begging for a little intimacy

ah exactly the words my heart was looking for. Thanks

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

Beautiful and so true

Poetry isn’t dewy meadows and songbirds

My favorite line!