I wish I could write poetry.
Pour out my heart in
Beautiful meter after meter;
Telling my story
In a way
To bring tears,
Then laughter,
Then chills.
I wish I could write poetry.
I grew up reading from greatness:
Poe and Cummings,
Frost and Dickinson;
My young girl mind
Overflowing with stunning aspirations
I wish I could write poetry.
Force my pain into words,
Beautiful.
Scars melting into syllables,
Tears into stanzas.
Depression into poetry.
Love into poetry.
Anger into poetry.
Life into poetry.
I wish I could write poetry,
But I can't;
And my second grade teacher
Always said
That if you can't,
Then don't;
So I won't even try.
I'll sit with my longing,
My metaphorical suffering,
My analogical sadness,
And my damn near comical pain.
I wish I could write poetry,
And I wish I could tell my life,
The way that so many
Before me have done.
I wish I could write poetry,
But I can't,
So I won't.
But it's days like this,
When the emptiness swallows me whole,
That I really,
Truly,
Wish that I could