Why I Write

I needed a poem for the Courage Day event that I performed at today. Sue Gee (the organiser) had emailed all the performers a list of who's who of the poetic art world as well as the program for the evening. With exams, school, work and family life, time was not my friend over the past few weeks. I needed something fresh and special for such an important event and cause. While studying for my final exam (Global Lit) and falling asleep on the 4th floor of the Commons building, the powers of inspiration decided that this was the time and surroundings to commune with me. I wrote the following piece that I delivered today at Courage Day...thank you for all that supported and inspired me today......

I write to express/to suppress my inner thoughts and outwardly address them

I undress words/

I write to satisfy/any ambition with thoughts wayward they fly/

I write to graffiti mulched trees and bust semen like ink from the spear of a pen giving birth to words/

I write when I am on point/turned on in a machine type way

I write to teach/greedily I learn and portions I give to others/

I write selfishly/

I write with empathy and charity/I write love with hate and hate with love/love with hate and hate with love/ love with hate and hate with love/I write in annoyance

I write to get rid of the voices/

I write to allow the voices to be heard/

I write to see if meaning disappears into air and becomes magic/

I write to correct/to solve the world’s problems in my secluded universe/

I write to challenge/and to ignore any intellect to imagine what new words I can fathom/

I write to rhyme/I write to envision a stadium of 70,000 or a bookstore of ten score/

I write to paint pictures/to illustrate and to captivate/

I write with goals in mind/to have you listen/to speculate and penetrate/to join forces/to meditate

I write to critique/to have an opinion/I write to think like you/

I write for hope/I write for my seed/to implore a reaction to love words like me/

I write to have validity/I write to find truth

I write to be emotively-charged and to breakdown on paper

I write to improve/I write to prove and to make room/

I write with a grammar that damage my nana to disprove it and punish my work with hardened words like a hammer/

I write to stay behind bars when I'm handing out sentences/

I write to act/to bring maybe a Shakespearian influence with a ghetto background and make Act 1 damn straight stupendous

I write to get girls and good grades/I write to show love to my wife/

I write to show off/I write to show weakness/

I write to share and testify/

I write to have an impact/to break down doors and to spray-paint walls of confusion and to blow the damn roof off/

I write for my review and your enjoyment/I write to make you think/I write for your opinion

I write to make me question/for the lesson of it’s meaning/

I write for my culture and my experience/

I write for purpose/I write to be honest/

I write for the kids who trip and stumble to make way/ who slip through the cracks of life and speak as if the world is their oyster/

I write for this miracle/I write for you

For the experience to see why I write/And I thank God I do