#What is poetry?

[most-ment]

What is poetry?

What is poetry to me?

At first it was an escape,

Somewhere for my sadness to go to,

So it wouldn’t be bottled up in my heart,

Making it unbearably heavy.

A defibrillator were my words,

Writing a thousand sentences a day just to keep my heart steady.

~

Poetry eventually became a megaphone,

For the thought’s i'd kept silent,

The feelings i’d normally disregard,

Because no one cared to listen.

Poetry made my emotions so loud,

That they couldn’t be ignored, 

By the world.

~

What did poetry become for me?

It became an identity,

A small peace of my definition,

An inseparable part of my reality.

The words were my soul in little bits,

scattered,

Trying to be understood,

Trying to be heard.

~

Poetry,

Became more than rhyming words and fun,

It became more than just another form of expression.

It became a red button,

I would click,

Every time I wanted to make a change,

An impact.

~

Poetry became something more to me,

Than the words I would simply write for someone to read. 

~

Note: Salaam loves! Wanted to post this yesterday for world poetry day but I was spent. Hope you like the poem and tell me in the comments,

What is poetry to you?

My poetic tag list:

@jayrealgf @sweetwarmcookies16 @think-through-pen @jordynhaiku @timeflieslikeabanana @grimfox @mk-ranz @unforgettable-sensations @dbaydenny @andileighwrites @onherway @sharmerika @hauntedjellyfishtraveler @hafisat @crownwriter @bdulhamid @chioma66 @dbaydenny @friendlyneighbourhoodartist

[tigerjpg]

nothing makes me go "ooooh we are NOT the same" quite like reading some post about how people talk with their parents about their interests. what do you mean you told your father about stevebucky. what do you mean he asked further questions

[murderonthedullexpress]

“Trapped”

Stone Butch Blues - Leslie Feinberg

@/lilboyblueish on Instagram

Poem by Keaton St. James (@boykeats)

I/Me/Myself - Will Wood

We Both Laughed In Pleasure by Lou Sullivan

cis people asking cis questions by Silas Denver Melvin (@sweatermuppet)

Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote

[llovely]

here's a fake interview about my me & my girlfriend that i transcribed from my head. enjoy!

[waitingforthesunrise]

don’t you love when you’re casually reading a random poem and suddenly come across a line that burrows into your bones and becomes the definition of your heart for the next 17 years

[skellydun]

absolutely love reading such a well-written story and falling a bit in love with the author based solely on the way they write. like baby the way you italicize words makes my heartbeat quicken.

[muchlovefleursblog]

[softinvasions]

Eurydice to Orpheus • Nov. 2023

eurydice’s silence is resounding. you can put anything in that emptiness. —@finelythreadedsky

[inkskinned]

in internet posts it is easy to cut them out of your life. they are hurting you! they aren't listening to you!

they held your hair back. they lent you lipstick. they held your hand at the train station and got you home safe. they rounded on your bully, got loud, said get fucked, spitting-mad in your defense.

they also cut the hair off again. told you that you should really think twice before wearing something like that. took you for granted. took your insecurities and threw them in your face again.

you know logically it should be easy. all the internet advice comments always read it will feel better. like an equation - if a person is rotten, you just remove them. you pull the tooth that's hurting.

but it was never a big flare-up moment. you don't live in a sitcom. they never tried to take your boyfriend or steal from your apartment. they showed up to birthdays and they wrote songs about you and bring you water without you asking. once you found out they carry an emergency inhaler for you, even though you haven't had an asthma attack in years - just in case.

where is the line? people fuck up. sometimes they fuck up badly. sometimes people have raw personalities, like a powerline, and being around them is dangerous. addicting. sometimes they can't help themselves, but you know they're trying. sometimes they are just rough-around-the-edges. sometimes they don't even realize how they sounded when they said that. sometimes it's just - you've both loved each other for so long now, the way this thing hurts goes back to the root.

and that's the fucked up part. you have pushed your fingers against the sweetheart of memory. things these days are electric, tense, harrowing. they didn't used to be. there were a lot of good days in there. sometimes you want to just close your eyes and say can this be over yet? do we still need to be fighting?

doing that would give up any chance you get of getting an apology, but you don't always know that you need an apology, you love them. once they flaked on your birthday party. once they told you to get over it, people are always dying. they also let you crash on their couch for a week after the breakup, handfeeding you when you were so sad you couldn't eat. they are also judgmental about everything, occasionally react to banal statements with an attitude that is weird and fiery. they also love you like a lighthouse sometimes, so strong they cut the storm like lightning.

but the problem is that you might be storm. you might be the thing that needs breaking. what if you are two forces who are desperately, horribly drawn to each other, shaped by the other person's passions, and both good for each other and bad in equal measure.

what if you're both just people, and you're no saint neither.

just cut them off! swallowing the saltwater, you catch yourself in the mirror. you've been shaking more than usual. there's an ache in you that is oblique, loud, impossible to soothe. is this what it looks like? when life is "easier"?

your mouth will always have a hole, is the thing, if you remove the tooth.

[tamsoj]

Charles Bukowski, "assault," from What Matters Most is How Well You Walk through the Fire

[something-sweet-n-spicy]

[muguetdemai]

Caitlyn Siehl, What We Buried; from "A Letter To Love"

[poetryofmuses]

"what do you do for a living?" Oh I am a professional hopeless romantic and I read books and cry in my free time.

[v1rginsu1cidal]

[shadowseductress]

In another universe, you have my photo in heart shaped locket.

[asoftepiloguemylove]

Mikko Harvey Wind-Related in the Wheatfield // Jonny Bolduc open question @jovialtorchlight // Cheryl Strayed Tiny Beautiful Things // @/mkpoet (instagram) // Mary Oliver Count the Roses // Phoebe Bridgers Waiting Room // Fyodor Dostoyevsky // Marie Howe Magdalene Afterwards; "Magdalene: Poems"