people always seem astonished
when others take their pain
and make it into art

"she took something terrible
and turned it into something beautiful,"
they say

they do not understand that for those artists,
it is the only way

that to take the paintbrush, the camera, the pen
and try to express
the horrible things that are in their heads
is the only way they can hope
to escape their demons and feel safe in their beds

they do not understand
that the pained and the afflicted
do not turn their pain to art
so it can be sugarcoated
and underappreciated

people need to understand
that others take their pain
and turn it into art
to make it go away