Not A Poet Poem by Patience Lightner

Not a Poet

I need to come clean
And y'all
To know know it
Because
I'm not really a poet.
And this right here?
The spoken poem?
Yeah, I wrote it.
And
Despite all the
Poetry
you've seen
by me
I'm a sheep
Amongst
Hungry wolverines

And you may
hear me
Say on any
Given day
The phrase "I don't do art"
Even though
There are paint stains
Across spattered across
my heart
And charcoal down
Down both arms.
I cant
Do "art"
I bleed ink
freely, daily
On pages
I Take
To center stages
So Hear me when I
Say:
I'm neither of those
Things I pretend to be
I simply
create for
Me
I don't
better humanity
Quite the contrary
Just driving
My own
insanity.
I feel unworthy
Of compliments
About "talent"
I simply like
Ah challenge.
And
I've seen
seamless
Words swen
By masters
Seemingly
Weaving
effortlessly
Flowing
At The loom
Crafting pages
Of broken
Hearts
And
Giving birth
To pain on
A page
It hurts
I'm sure
So I'm
Not a writer
And it's better that
You know
Im not a poet
Though,
I pretend
sometimes
Like
With this
Rhyme
I rehearsed
Over a
thousand
Times.
So now to really
own it
Cuz I'm
Not a poet

I can't draw
Even tho
I have sold
My art
Full time
Made a living and
still existing &
I'm not
starving
But if you had
seen
The scenes
In my friends
Paintings?
You'd be screaming
Obscenities
At me
For daring tah
Suggest that I
Too
Am an artist
I deny
The title every time
My stuff
Often feels
Small and clumsy
Comparatively
To the things I've seen
And
Sometimes when I share
What I write
It feels like
I'm screaming.
"HEY LOOK AT ME! I'm kinda stoked, bout this
Thing I wrote, sorry it's not done.
Never mind, I can't write
I thought I might
Have written
Something good
This time.
I'll leave you
Alone."
"I thought It might
Have been good tho"
See? can't be a poet
I'm too long winded
I'm really not that gifted
My friends are
The talented
To me
Creating is
Frustrating!
Sometimes
i cross
Ever line out
X over my whole
Sketch
Beaten by a
My own crazy
Dream
Of artistry
But then I find
A small thing
I like.
A gem
To add tah
That
treasure trove
Of my
Very own
So
one day
I may
Turn that line
In too
a bar
A sketch into
Some Art
It's been a rocky start
And I've come so
Far
And
I hope
To be half
As talented
As my
friends are

So poet? No.
But I keep writing beautiful things
so one day
I may be so.


And that's all I wrote