A Lament and Freeing of C. R. Powers

I cannot be what you want me to be.
I cannot be what you need me to be.

I can only be me.

And, what I am is a writer.

I cannot be up to your standards.
But I can write a poem about how you hurt me.
I can write my life up to publication.

You will not believe.
And, I would rather die than submit to defeat.

I cannot be who you want me to be.
If I die tomorrow, I will be me.
If I die tomorrow, it will be with a pen in my hand.
If I vanish under, it is from these tears I have to shed.

I can only be me.

And, what I am as a writer.

Why wont you let me be me.
Why wont this life accept what I am.
Why can't I be published too.
I have a voice.
I have hands to speak.

I am what I am.

We are what we are, so accept it.

I am the writer who writes.
It is my everything.
I am the writer who fights.
It is my means.
I am the writer who must be.
Or I shall not be at all....