all stories are two-edged swords
but you will tell them anyway
and You say it in a way
that implies
i like that.
but it is something that haunts me:
fame and fortune,
stories that are so good
that they get so big
that somehow they’re no longer your own
they get twisted, pulled
people feed on them
for their own fevered obsessions
and they become living, alive
but never in the way you meant them to be
but—stories are a two-edged sword, not one
as a creative, it haunts me,
but not enough to deter me:
for there’s the other side
that makes it worth it
stories that are so good
that they get so big
that somehow they’re no longer your own
they morph and move
into the hearts of men
making them cry,
breathe again
inspiring worlds
inspiring creativity
inspiring someone
to go home and write poetry
and dream of a year
where she goes
and writes a book
yet doesn’t stop writing
over and over again, writes.
and somehow—
this is my job now,
to write.
December 2021
Tauranga, New Zealand
