What is a poem?
A list of words,
thrown carelessly onto the paper?

No, a poem is more.

It's where I can tell you
about the boy who broke my heart
and steps on it every day
as he holds her hand.

Or the one who stole
that thing so dear
that a girl cannot get back.
then left me there to wilt,
a flower stripped of her petals
and left me on the floor.

Or the one who took that shattered heart
and put it together
with jagged pieces
of his own.
Then as he went to hand it back,
changed his mind and kept it-
locked it in a cage
where he can torture it-
Beat it and showed his friends
as it sputtered
lifeless
to
the
ground.

A poem is freedom
your soul exposed
to the world for all to see,
and feel
and laugh
and shutter.

Poetry is the heart explained.
Trials and tribulations.
The Father with a temper so short and fierce.
Mother who's seldom home.
Friends with knives held ready
to stab you in the back.

The thing's one cannot say
or hope to explain.
These are poems.

And I
am
a Poet.