I don’t know how to begin a poem I don’t know how to start to write down the words in my heart and sow them I don’t know how to make a proper rhyme or rhythm I don’t know how make something sound genuine but polished I don’t know how to show both my creativity and my knowledge I don’t know how I don’t know I don’t… In reality there is not much I can say I can write for an entire day And only have one line written On display. Man, why am I here? Am I just trying to prove to myself I’m deep and clear? When in reality these words mean nothing But yet i craft them together to try and make it something ABC, twenty-seven letters mixed together again and again Mix in some punctuation and call it win When really What do I have to say I’m seventeen, young, and have never known pain Maybe years from now, when I’ve lived past my mother I will look back and see me as another. It’s odd, For someone so privileged in their life- I was loved from the moment I was born And probably will be loved till I die- But still why do I feel so much pain? It’s not the same as they described it Symphonies of screams or echoes of rain The crushing memories or nightmare at night The blood pumping in a sudden fight or flight No It’s just quiet here A damp room A lonely light bulb It’s empty It’s cold It's too foggy to be clear I've never been in love I haven’t loved a single thing my life And I know everyone says its my age or my youth That I just have to wait and wait until I meet the right person Then my world would explode into light My heart would beat and threaten to burst out my chest A pulse stopping, deep love that would blow out the rest Yeah I don’t think that will happen And maybe it’s just me being a cynical teenager who pretends to know what’s happening Who's convinced that somehow my experience is different from the thousands of people who have already lived Or maybe it’s because I don’t work that way Maybe there’s a gear broken inside of me Something that won’t fit Because each time I try to love something I’ll get hit with my own thoughts, something that nags me And says You don’t know this is real You aren’t happy And it’s ridiculous I know But the feelings true How can you love when the only thing you know is real is you? Huh For all I know, This is inside my mind, And i’ve been dead weeks ago It’s hard to love And it’s hard to get lost When your thoughts are always caught up in the fact that these feelings are apart of some plot That the feeling ‘love’ Is just a chemical That convinces animals to breed and is nothing more than mechanical I want To believe it’s something more But my mind likes to rebell And ignore every score Maybe that’s why I can never fall in love I’ve met good people who would’ve been perfect for such But their love has never affected me much Maybe that’s why I’ve never been able to dream Because I know the real world and it is as much as it seems I’ve never had large desires Because some part of me sees it as pointless It’s hard to dream big in word where sometimes you're not ever sure if you exist And yet I balk at the thought of death Of the afterlife Or nothingness Sometimes when I’m in class and the bell is about to ring And everyone talks and jokes around like it’s not a thing I’ll look around And suddenly feel As if I’m the only one whose real As if I’m the only one who sees the world from outward perspective Like a narrator An onward looker on the main action Aware of how everything is so temporary Dramatic irony isn’t so fun when you know what it carries But I know I’m not The only one who feels this way A concoction of hormones and disorders to start my day I’ll probably grow up Do what my parents did Normal job, marriage, one or two kids I’ll look back at my teenage dramaticism And roll my eyes Thinking that I knew nothing My emotions too big for my size But sometimes I hope I remember what rain felt like in september Or the fact I wrote that line without actually know what it meant Or how I worked and worked until my brain was completely spent **** What am i even doing here? Writing a poem no one will ever hear Lines between lines That could show my world clear I should just shut up I don’t know what I’m saying I don’t know how to write a poem I don’t know if I’m praying I don’t know how I don’t know I don’t I… I am alone.