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