Why do you write poetry so much?

Why? Because poetry right now, for me, is like a substitute for dramas. I don't have the time to watch a 25 episode drama, so I write poems instead. I think in poems sometimes; I had one of those moments about an hour ago. I can escape life in general when I write poems. I can focus on a specific aspect of my life and I can force the essence out of it until I feel better. If you haven't noticed, a lot of my poetry isn't exactly the happiest ever. Ironic, because looking back at to 6th grade, my poems were so amazingly light-hearted and happy and hopeful. I still have hopeful poems, but those aren't happy per se. And for the most part, my poems are pretty sad. Loneliness. Depression. Abandonment. Pretty wonderful main topics, right? I think it started in 8th grade, but who am I to know. Could have been there earlier.

Why? Because poetry is a way for me to let out emotion. Because I grew up in a family where, if I cried, my parents would yell at me for crying. "Crying isn't going to solve anything! Stop crying!" So, guess where those feelings went? Into my heart. And I kept them there. Sometimes I wrote in journals, but that didn't happen too often. After a while, I perfected the art of silently crying myself to sleep. It comes in handy a lot. I'm losing my touch though, sometimes I need to sob myself to sleep. Not silently.

Why? I feel like I hurt others all too much. Poetry helps me force it into perspective. And I would be lying if I said I never cried while writing my poems. It's rare, since my sadness usually gets channeled into the poem, but it happens. And I tend to write poetry from other people's views too. Sometimes they're my friends (even if they don't know it), sometimes they're just general speakers formed to encompass a specific situation or idea. It helps me realize how damn retarded I am sometimes, and just how much I can hurt people.

Why? Because poetry is there. And because it's a hell of a lot better than crying in a corner or punching walls.