a poem that doesn't rhyme at all

I decided to try my hand at writing poetry, so I connected with some people who write poetry and asked them for tips on how to start. I got a bunch of advice from really helpful friends, including:

• read poetry

• try different styles

• it doesn't have to rhyme!

• meter doesn't have to be perfect

• you don't always need to be perfectly understood with the first read-through

• don't get stressed about whether it'll sound great

• just start writing it and see what happens

So I took their advice and tried writing a poem... it ended up longer than I thought but also sounded better than I first expected. It's still not that great but maybe someone out there needs to read it :)

You duck your head

you hide your face

afraid to show yourself to the world

afraid of what they all might think

someone says hi

you give a small smile

underneath a curtain of hair

“How are you doing?”

“I’m good”

or maybe

“I’m fine”

when the voice inside screams

i don’t even know who I am anymore

i don’t want to mess up

i don’t want to disappoint

i don’t want them to see my flaws

i don’t want to let them down

who even am I, really?

so you stay silent, mostly

and you hide your rare smiles

behind a mask of someone you don’t know

you’ve lost the person you really are

and you don’t know how to find her

you don’t know where she’s gone

you don’t even know what she looks like

you take a deep breath

you pull your hair back

you remind yourself what you know

I know…

but what do you really know?

what’s true, and what’s a façade?

you’ve cursed yourself to be a different person

when you really long to just be you

everyone says it – Just. Be. You.

Then why do they expect me to be like everyone else?!

You take another breath

You turn away from the mirror

You pick up a pen

You touch it to a page

But instead of words

A picture is born

A beautiful picture

A picture of someone who looks like…

You.

You glance up at the world around you

It doesn’t matter who they are

It doesn’t matter who they expect you to be

You are you

That won’t change

You can hide

You can wear a mask of someone else

You can learn who they want you to be

And be that person

But once you stop caring what they might think

Once you start dwelling on what you know:

That you are loved

And you are beautiful

And you are created for a purpose

Just the way you are,

That’s when you really shine.