When

What happens when my pen meets paper

When I Write

When I stop and sit down to write
I discover me,
What I really think,
How I really feel.
I can stand back from me
And look to see who I am
And who I never knew I was
And who I could probably never be
Until I write.

When I write, I have conversations
With myself and with others.
I say the things I don’t dare say
Out loud to myself or to others.
I can say what I want.
I can say it how and when I want,
As loudly or as quietly as I want.
And I can say why I want to say what I want
When I write.

When I write,
I separate myself from my unexpressed thoughts;
Releasing them to paint portraits that I could not otherwise paint,
To draw landscapes that I could not otherwise draw.
I can go places inside and outside of me
That I wouldn't have the nerve to otherwise go.
I begin to understand things
And to be understood in ways that I could not before I wrote
When I write.