The Life I Write May Be My Own

This poem was very much a long time coming, though I really didn't know it.  That is, until I started talking to a friend about my poetry.  The essential thoughts have always been a primary drive for why I write, but thanks to the conversations that friend and I had, I was finally able to put them to poetic use.  That said, I want to extend a very warm thank you to Bianka for sparking the inspiration behind this poem. Thank you Bianka!


The Life You Write May Be Your Own

A long time ago I realized that I should keep writing,
and I should write like my life depends on it.
For the life I write may be my own.
Every syllable, word, comma, period,
apostrophe, pulls it all together,
strings every heartbeat, breath, minute,
day, and beyond, into one continuous life.
A life that lives to learn.
A life that has only just begun to figure out how to just be.

I write like my life depends on it.
Like every word might be my last.
Like each word is more vital than the last.
This life I write just may be my own.
So I scrutinize every word to the letter,
every tense to make sure I live in the present,
a present to unwrap like every day is Christmas,
a gift like every day is my birthday.
I'm that kid wiping the sleep from my eyes. I'm awake.

To everyone I meet, write like your life depends on it.
Treat every word like they are the building blocks to your own Constitution.
Use every word like it's your personal Declaration of Independence,
all of it, because the life you write may be your own.
Know that what you say and how you say it can make you a force that has never before been seen.
Know that even the "unmovable" can be budged, and pushed,
that the word "unbreakable" is just a front. Discover that in your words.
Your words. Fight with them, write with them, write them down,
because the life that you write just may be your own.

For Bianka

(What Could Be) The Biggest Lies

This poem came to me by way of the last line first.  It was a little different than it is here, but the essence is intact.  The poem is inspired by a number of swirling and repeating themes and ideas that seem to work their ways into my conversations and choices.  Alright, no more of this nonsense...

(What Could Be) The Biggest Lies

So hard to try, so easy to say.
Thinking hurts a little.
Sometimes, all it does is hurt.
So I write this poem that borders on whiny,
Bumps that line of emo.

I hate that shit.

Truth of it is, these are the thoughts that I should think.
Thoughts that should see light
That should see action
That should be said
Thoughts that are faster than they ever look
Stronger than they appear
These thoughts look so daunting, so immense.

Here's another truth about these thoughts -
To keep them is wrong, damn near unlawful.
Never to try them is to never see them,
Creating more what ifs than bearable.

Keeping these thoughts becomes more than painful.
Honestly, sincerely, what it really does is this -
Keeping any of them becomes the biggest lies never told.


That's me, right now, in the middle of everything.