Becoming a poet

Is like walking over

a bridge that connects sections of the 

universe, and realizing that getting off 

at just one of them isn’t an option. 

It’s the reason you can watch trees grow shadows with the

Retreat of the sun

and not feel like rushing.

It’s the reason you’re here by yourself.

Becoming a poet is playing in the river 

With your children and

Knowing this is all that

Matters.

But it’s also flying over the sprawl of the earth,

Looking for definition.

Nothing feels as good as being alone.

But you can’t breathe without knowing someone is there.

Becoming a poet is like 

wrestling with someone 

who hasn’t formed,

Who wants you dead,

But who relies on you for their very heart.

There is no agreement.

Becoming a poet

Can feel like

Building 

Something better,

constantly,

And not showing

Anyone.

It can be free and beautiful,

But it is not childhood. 

You can craft fantasies for

Everyone around you –  

But also constantly hear chatter

In your brain

Without deciding whether 

To speak it or write. 

You are a poet when

Thinking about it becomes too much

So you do everything else

Instead.

Becoming a poet

Contradicts reality but 

Is the only way to 

Be real.

You have to make words act palpable

And strong, even if they are often taken for granted.

Even if they are weak.

It means your power

forms meaning

From nothing,

grinds letters into imagination

and holds the reader accountable for its success.

To actually be a poet

Means you sometimes write

To find the light,

Instead of delivering it. 

Immense and immeasurable,

You mystifies — 

Yet people connect to you

Molecularly,

Unable to be severed from the chain which

Enables all life 

A peek at what it’s like

To become a poet.