The First Poem

The First Poem


The first poem I wrote was a simple,
escapist fantasy, but it liberated
the enormous energy of my despair
and oppression as nothing before
had ever done. I felt
simultaneously revealed to myself
and freed of my self
by the images and actions of the poem.
I knew from that moment on
that all I wanted to do was write poems.
I knew that if I was to
survive in this life,
it would only be through the help of poetry.


Gregory Orr

Posted over on Valparaiso Poetry Review