I have a date with

I have a date with a doctor, or

Perhaps he's a lawyer or an engineer, and

he says, "Why write?"

I look up from my pretense

My dinner, my courtesy, my mask,

And he sees something he fears:

Passion.

"Why do I write, sir?

Why do you breathe?"

"Because,"

he says,

"Breathing is necessary for all life.

I exist because I breathe."

I breathe.

"You breathe for you,"

I say.

"I write for you

as well as me.

I write for the downtrod,

the starving artists, the lawyers and

doctors and engineers, the president

and kings and queens.

I write to feel,

I write to know,

I write to live."

He fumbles with words.

I do not. "I write

because I accept myself and you and you and you, and you,

You breathe to live today.

I write so everyone

Has a chance for tomorrow.

I write for you. I write for fantasy. I write for love.

I write for me.

I write for God.

I write because I'm a writer."

He frowns. "But you can't make - "

I leave the table and stride out.

I can make anything.

I am a writer.

I write to live today, yesterday, tomorrow.

I write for you.

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