I Am Not a Poet

 

I don't think of myself as a poet.

I don't really do poetry,

I just sew together words together into tapestries of things that I'm trying to say.

And sometimes, they might sound like poetry

But it's not what I'd call it

I actually think that my work is too dense to be considered poetry.

I don't paint a pretty picture with words,

I build civilizations out of them

I'm founding nations and creating history with words

And the words you are hearing now

Are only but a fraction of the ones that were written

In the conception of this particular piece

My work is a realm unto itself

And I am the god of that realm

Molding it into something larger than the both of us

Because my words don't matter unless someone's there to witness them

And you are here as witnesses

If my words empower and inspire you

Do what you will with them

Once these words leave me

They become yours if you choose to keep them

If you share my work, it'll live on forever

If you leave it behind, it was always meant to die

This I do at your mercy

But I don't do these things for you

I do these things because that is what a writer does

If I didn't write, I wouldn't be me

That's how art works

It's not made because you want to make it

You make it because you're cursed to make it

You have been damned by the gods of creativity

To constantly toil at your craft

Until something of worth comes out

And you keep on doing that

Until all the things that drive you to create

Have finally all been mined out of you

Then, and only then, will you ever find peace