Sarah Kay

And I often think of poem as a verb.

And sometimes when I can't understand something and I'm wrestling with it, I have to poem my way through it.

And then I get to the end of the poem and I go, oh, that's what was going on.

And sometimes I get to the end of the poem and I still don't know what's going on, but at least I have a new poem out of the situation.

And so for me, it's not super romantic.

It's not like, oh, I'm inspired and the muse visits and out comes a poem.

It's more like math.

It's more like I'm doing a math equation in another language.

And as soon as I poem my way through it, that's the puzzling.

And so I write the poems for my own brain and heart.

It's a navigation tool.

It helps me maneuver my way through my own living.

And sometimes that's what the poem is for.

Sometimes I write a poem and I just needed to write it.

And then I go, thank you for your service.

And I put it in the drawer and that's the end of that.

And sometimes I write a poem and there's something about the poem that I think is

someone else might get something out of this poem.

And then I get to decide, okay, well, does this poem want to live on the page?

Does this poem want to live out loud in front of people?