Not the Poem I Wanted to Write
by Jason Tomlinson

My feelings capture my creativity and my heart is anything but light
and the poem in my mind is not the one I wanted to write
but what can I say when my heart is sad
and people disagree because they feel so bad?
it just seems wrong superficial and fake
if I sought to manipulate and make
up words that I don’t feel
even when I’m sad I wanna keep it real
the authenticity is so important even though unpleasant
feeling my feelings has value simply being present