Through the years, people have always asked me how I write the way I do, specifically my poetry. Whenever I ask why, they say because it's so poignant and true, like I'm talking to them. I am never talking to them. It is my way of dealing with the mess that is my life. And, I don't know why people act like writing a ten line poem is some big elaborate project. When I sit down to write a poem, it is most likely because I am wishing I would be hit by a bus.
I don't recommend any of this, but here is how I became a poet in six steps:
1) Cry. A lot.
2) Convince yourself you love someone even when you don't.
3) Fall in love with the wrong person.
4) Fall in love with the right person at the wrong time.
5) Drown in your crippling depression.
6) Write it down.
Now you may be wondering: Why immortalize your pain? And the answer, my friend, is that I have no idea. I used to think of writing as a release, and it very much still is, but sometimes I'll go back and read what I wrote four years ago and cringe.
Take it easy, I'd say to myself. You'll be horizontal for a really long time.
You too, will go back and cringe at your own writing. I used to have a rather popular blog full of poetry and sometimes I'll read through things I wrote at 14 and be like "just you wait". I haven't touched the blog in years. I've forgotten the password, but the fact is the poetry was terrible, and yet it was still popular. Which begs the question: Is someone going to put all of our cliche poetry into one giant anthology of pretentious teenage thoughts that will later be read in schools as standard curriculum?
Scary thoughts.