parse our people

defining poetry as a term

is a lot like attempting to define people, i’ve found.

the contemporary definition that most favor

likes clean lines, rhyme schemes

larger connotations filled with hopes and dreams

identical spacing down neatly-cut pages

speaking of love and loss for the ages

instead of where i left a toothbrush this morning

apparently, that gets rather boring

when all we like to do is look back and clap

at the lines we like,

and ignore the parts

that make us think.

no one fills an instagram bio

with those words.

we cannot attempt to parse our people

before realizing that despite our differences,

we will always have something to offer

to this madcap world.

we were born to test limits

break our lines and scatter our edges

until horizons lay within our grasp

shatter our rhyming schemes

while screaming to the world that

we are alive!

that this vicious cycle of love and loss

only makes us more human,

losing ourselves within

the poetry of motion and emotion.

defining poetry as a term

is a lot like attempting to define people, i’ve found.

some prefer the classical definition,

others shout their protest with their spoken word

but at the end, we are all

beautifully, brokenly human.