Why I Write: The Act of Expression

Not only am I the token female, I am also the poet who just so happens to dabble in narrative when the mood strikes.  I say this to begin my explanation of why I write:  I write as a means to express emotion and poetry has always been an emotionally charged bit of writing.

I have many outlets for this type of expression.  I dance.  I paint.  I draw.  I act.  So why do I have to write?  Because there are some things that can only be expressed by the painting of words.  I do not have the capacity to let them stew and swallow them down; I must express them and explore them.  In fact, much of my writing tells the story of my life and what I was feeling in that particular time.  Even the fantastical stories.

I find the expression of writing fascinating.  Why did a writer choose this topic?  Why did they choose that phrase?  What meaning does it have for the writer?  What meaning did it invoke in the reader?  How can I affect the reader?  All of these things factor into the act of writing for me.  I want to move and entertain.

Maybe it is a single moment of emotion exposed.  Or a lifetime written out on the pages.  No matter the concept or idea, my goal is to make the reader feel something. 

I write to express something, anything because there is something in me that needs to be expressed.  Every artist has that impulse or they would not create.  So I create to express and I express to create.  It is a vicious, colorful circle.

And while this isn’t my best piece of poetry, I thought I would end with this, as my expression of writing:

A pen-stroke.  A dash.
Slice it open.
Slash it out.
Curl the ink into monuments
Fill the room with parchment
White and black.
An aching heart bleeding letters
Soaring into the fibers
A soul freed.
A question unanswered.
Left on the page.
Sitting.
With just a pen-stroke.