I don't write poems
I scratch them out like a nervous tick
like counting cracks in the sidewalk
so something bad won't happen
Every line has to feel even
balanced like breaths
I don't trust myself to take naturally
if a word leans too far left
I drag it back by the throat
Delete. Rewrite. Delete.
Again
Again
Again, until the meaning is gone
and all that's left is symmetry
I chase the perfect sentence
like it owes me money
like if I don't catch it
my thoughts will start leaking
through the walls
Rhymes itch under my skin
half-finished sentences hum in my teeth
I wake up at 3 AM
to fix a metaphor
no one will ever read twice
There's a poem in every mistake
and I make plenty
but I can't leave them alone long enough
to let them breathe
I polish them down
to something sterile
clean as a hospital floor
where nothing real survives
Because stopping feels worse
than breaking it apart again
Because silence
is the only thing
I can't revise