When poetry happens...

They pay fortune for older children 

To drill into our minds

How

To be writers, how to

String together words

Over a computer,

As the hours tick by

Searching for that one selfless thought

To capture,

As if poetry waits for anybody!

In this craft, it is not simply

One plus one equals two, it is

One plus one equals

A howl crawling out of the pit of your stomach,

A voice that belongs to anyone

But you,

A fire that ends in murder or suicide,

A pair of hands moving before you realise

You're even awake.

Unless the alternative

Is a grave, or a blade, or a madhouse,

Don't try;

Unless staying still

Would cause your bones to shake

Don't try;

Unless you feel the poem

Scratching the inside of your throat trying to escape

Don't try.

Its taken mountains of bland verses

To teach myself the most important act

A writer must perfect ,

The act of letting the poem speak

Through you,

Because art comes from everywhere

Except within the artist,

And poetry only happens

When the poem writes itself!