Long before you or I were here
Mythical creatures roomed
But even before that, there lived warlocks
Such evil and uncanny creatures
Even rocks hid
Deep and deeper still
The cave of the forgotten
Few witches know the whole truth
That is the one not in textbooks
But whispered among walls
What can’t be talked about
Or that evil could swallow you whole
For its void is a pit of darkness
These days the young wrap themselves in it
Bask in it as like skincare
Dark can’t beat dark
But yet the world still draws cold
To be strong is to be rooted in the ground
The last tree in a storm of whooshing miasma
For the light and deeds within shall stretch forth
And pierce through without a doubt.
Because light can beat the darkness.
I draw my inspiration from what I see happening in the world around me and the youth crime epidemic, which seems to have many roots in the examples of adults who came before us. This epidemic hasn’t happened all at once; it has been passed down from generation to generation and has created the society I now live in. Creating this poem took a combination of being creative and expressive. Creating the poem also helped me clarify and strengthen my views about the importance of staying grounded while understanding that sometimes the safest way to be yourself is not to follow what everyone else is doing. I used creativity in the imagery and wordplay to illustrate my thoughts about life and show the reader how I have experienced life from my point of view. The structure of my poem is fluid and contains a rhythm that resembles life rather than the rigid structure of traditional poetry. I did not use any past examples or mentor texts to write my poem. Instead, I drew “inspiration” from what I have seen and experienced and the truths I see each day.