Wild Poem by Maya Hanson

I have never written
like a petal,
words perfectly placed,

pauses perfectly positioned
like curves
down the slope of the mountainside,

soft dirt spilling
through my fingertips,
sifting through only the best earth
to grow my syllables,

picking colors so they
blend like a sunset
and I can sit there
at the end of the day
knowing I gave exactly
the colors the world needed.

No.

I write like a
weed,

shadows unable
to shame me,
waterfalls unable
to drown me,

just enough wild
to snap in the air
as I try to crack this world like a riddle
bleed it wide open
I can wield this art like a knife
like a drug

giving everything everything
too much of everything,

but still the wild waxes
and I stretch to every ceiling,

choosing words like a twister of seeds
scattering to whatever
wind I let loose

and the more I push through
my soil
my skin
my soul
the more that grows.