My First Poem
My First Poem
...is called "Gothic Love."
I often forget
my poetry is me,
naked on this page
- the blood, guts, bones,
and whatever else
my soul reveals to me
when I stop worrying
how I look in the mirror.
I no longer recognize
the vulnerability that I felt
when I shared my first poem.
Yet I remember the place,
a coffee shop in Sacramento.
It took a while for me to summon
the courage necessary to speak.
Afterward the rush of emotion
compelled me to flee the scene.
No one can possibly know what is about to happen:
it is happening, each time, for the first time,
for the only time.
~ James Baldwin
