Write

Write at your desk
in unruly scrawls
pen and ink
Write and Write and Write
build a palace of crumpled papers
right at your feet

Write, cross it out, start again
Write, hate every letter on the page
start again, start over
Write, bang your head on your desk
pace back and forth for hours
dictate to a phantom audience
in your bedroom
in a city you don’t recognize
Write because the skyscrapers
swallowed you whole and won’t let you go

Write love poems full of clichés
and tired similes inspired by romantic comedy
call it original, call it garbage
but keep Writing
build a tower of rejected sonnets and lock yourself inside
until the world makes sense again
Write your way out
Write your way out
of the quicksand you’re sinking in

Write when you’re afraid
Write your insecurities into epic ballads
decorate your irrational fears with precise punctuation
your page is a damn celebration of your worst characteristics
if you can’t beat them, at least Write them

Write until the sweat beads on your brow
face your demons with your hands
write them out of existence

Write until it hurts
when the words flowing from your pen
begin to scare you with their honesty
keep Writing
give your words life
give them meaning
give them so much soul
they’re practically leaping off the page
and breathing on their own
do not let
the voice in your head
tell you otherwise
these are your words
own them.