A lot of the time, when I write a poem, I start out intending to do it in prose. I love prose poetry. But there’s just something about the particular kind of vulnerability I put into to poetry that makes it refuse
to stay
that way
When I write things down that are hard to say or express, it often comes out in
short bursts
of words
I can’t think the entire phrase at once
I can’t hold in all in my head
It is too big
too full
too much
And so I take it in small chunks
Because that’s
the only way
it filters
through my brain
at all
Some things just have to be said
slowly
and with
frequent
breaks
Even if what I produce actually is a paragraph, eventually. Like, if I’m writing a difficult email and not a poem at all,
this is
what it
feels like
in my head
Letting words come out
the way they want to
come out is the start
of wisdom in a writer