The first poem I’m going to share was written by Rupi Kaur and then I will try to mirror her sentiments with my own.

I have always written in the free form style, never even knowing it had a name, never knowing it was a “real” form of poetry. I happened to pick up her two paperbacks in an airport and right then and there I knew I would start writing again. I do not pretend to even touch her genius. She has inspired me and validated my style and my urge to create simply for creation’s sake:

your art
is not about how many people
like your work
your art
is about
if your heart likes your work
if your soul likes your work
it’s about how honest
you are with yourself
and you
must never
trade honesty
for relatability

–to all young poets
Rupi Kaur, from milk and honey

And now from me (my first ever published poem!):

I don’t know what is so
satisfying
about putting words into
verse,
about shaping my
stream of self-consciousness.
Prose never inspired
and always humiliated.
How is it that poetry
is immune
to my perfectionism?

Thanks for reading.
–the violet zoo