Wait, stop.

What if I don’t want

Complete strangers reading

These words

That came from 

Inside me?

What if I don’t want

To see my writing

Laid out like a corpse

On a cold metal table

vulnerable,

naked?

Poetry is not like

A research paper

Or a History project 

You had to do 

To raise your GPA

Poetry is 

Art

Music

Dance

Poetry is

Birth 

Life

Death

Poetry is 

Breath

It’s the feeling

Of complete and utter

Freedom

When you 

Realize that

You are in control

Of yourself

You may not 

Like writing 

Maybe it’s more 

of a chore

Than a pleasure 

For you

But to me 

Poetry is the only

Way I can

Be free

From the constraints

Of my mind.

So this is why 

I struggle

When I see strangers

Reading

Critiquing

Judging

This work

That took all

The courage I had

To put down on paper

Because 

poetry is

Me.

Poetry is all of me,

Every imperfection

And liability

That I can

Hide easily behind 

Fake smiles 

And empty reassurances

But is bared open

The minute I set pen

To paper.

I can’t hide 

In poetry,

No matter how hard

I try

So yes, 

you can read my poem,

But please

Remember this.