by 2024 PWN Teen Teaching Assistants (Skyla B., Adelaide D., Kshirin D., Joshua K., Lilly K., Danny N., Navya P., Kelly R., Maxine Z.)
I was broken, so I started writing about it.
That’s why I write; it’s my gravity.
I write because paper is the best listener.
I write because it’s a great way to express myself
and get out any emotion.
Something deeply intuitive
hidden in my otherwise skeptical & doubt-ridden disposition
tells me that I can carry meaning
through sticking with an imperfect and risky pursuit like this.
I write to make something out of nothing.
I write as soon as an idea comes to mind,
and if I am unable to write in the current moment,
I hold onto the idea like a venus fly trap,
capturing an unsuspecting insect
whose days were suddenly cut short.
Not watered down; not twisted; not bent;
not conformed; not logical;
but a cluster of cells and poignancy,
I wrote and the clocks broke—
Slipping into daydreams,
I contracted the manufacturers and masons
for a brick-by-brick lay of my inner life
until my bedroom turned into a swamp
and the fantasies sunk their heads in the quicksand.
I write to ensure that I am not found.
I must confess before you read me aloud.
Red Bank, New Jersey
Bridge Ink 