It’s a nice idea-
 The idea that someone can be 
 Set free 
 With words.
 In a life where writing is structured,
 Planned, pre-empted, 
 It’s liberating to use the 
 English language to get more than 
 a grade. 
  
 It’s a form of meditation; 
 A spiritual journey to parts of yourself 
 You didn’t know were there and 
 That stare up at you on paper, 
 Willing you to not only 
 Acknowledge but 
 Accept. 
  
 The flow can be disrupted, 
 Through lack of thought.
 Or over-thought. 
 Or pretty much anything if one allows it. 
 It’s all about the choice you make
 -much like meditation-
 as to whether the flow of your mind
 is drawn to a halt, 
 intercepted. 
  
 Strength of character determines
 The outcome
 As per usual.
 If I had a pound for every 
 Fifty-word document entitled
 My Feelings 
 Or notepad filled with the 
 Desperate scrawl of a girl who just needs to 
 Let go 
 I would spend it on a 
 Lifetime supply of paper and pens because 
 Why would I stop such a 
 Healthy coping mechanism?
 Count yourself lucky I’m not 
 Counting calories or scars
 But instead the number of 
 Ink stains on my hand. 
  
 Free yourself.
 Because you can rip out pages,
 Set them alight and 
 Watch them burn to nothing.
 They are forever safe in the embers 
 But untouchable. 
 What’s more cathartic
 Than that? 

thoughts.

This poem’s inspiration came from a workshop exercise at uni (as it always seems to at the moment), but was supposed to just be a stream of consciousness. I found myself adding the lineation and punctuation out of instinct and, with the exception of the final stanza, I had a poem. There needed to be a conclusion, as, while I enjoy the classically laid back style of free verse, I am also a big believer in poetry having a direction, depending on the subject matter.

I become increasingly self-aware when I am commanded to write; the only thing my mind holds on to is how subjective the whole thing is and what it means to me. This being said, it has always served as a logical way of bringing thoughts out of my brain, where they could otherwise tangle and snag on other potentially worse thoughts. My ‘thoughts about thoughts’, if you will, are always the most complicated ones though, so transforming them into ‘writing about thoughts’, more than anything, saves me from insanity.