I Write And I Will Always Write Poem by RIC BASTASA

i write not because i want to be famous
fame has its own place to take care of itself

i write not because i want to educate
people educate themselves and most of them are educated enough

with or without me
with or without my poems

i write not because i want to express my feelings
or display all my emotions like some sort of fireworks on the 4th of July

(maybe for quite a time i was that
a man making a ventilation
a fume looking for an opening
a pressure looking for a window
a failure seeking a redemption
a penalty asking for a reprieve
a criminal begging for pardon
a rebel detained and wishing for
pardon...

a ship looking for a destination
an island asking for its own place under the sun
a sigh desperately waiting for the mouth

whatever...

but now i begin to think so deeply
why do i write? and why do i write everyday?

and why poems? why not a novel or a short story?
or an essay on the fate of men
the conflicts within them
the wars that they have to face everyday
their deaths and
resurrections

their erections and negations
the women and their seductions
the world in its glory
history and its memory

i write because i owe my life to poetry
it has saved me from my misfortunes

i write because i want to thank the poems
i write because

i just want to say: thanks,
to express this eternal gratitude
now, that

i am still alive.