The Rule of Poetry
I wasn’t the happiest kid in middle school
School subjects increased in difficulty
Especially math
What is the Pythagorean Theorem again?
How do I figure out the radius of the circle for a second time?
Would you mind explaining to me what fractions are once more?
Nothing made sense to me
I felt like an idiot and didn’t understand why I couldn’t grasp math
Math teachers preach about how math is the most important subject on the planet
Nothing surpasses it
You need to know it in order to survive in the real world
I began to think if I never understood math I would never be accepted into a good high school
Go to a good college
Get a good job
Make good money
Have a good life
Depression fell over me
Everyone else in my grade seemed to understand it with great ease
Why did I have to be different?
Was there something wrong with my brain that I wasn’t able to ever learn Mathematics?
Possibly some sort of disease called Mathematitis?
I wasn’t doing too well in English either
The five paragraph essays really took it out of me
They were so conventional, and rather dull
I felt increasingly bored with my education and was rather unmotivated
One day my English teacher said we would start a new curriculum on a form of writing called poetry
After poetry was explained to me I was amazed at the sort of freedom that was bestowed upon me
Poems didn’t have an equation I had to figure out
They didn’t have a ‘right’ answer
I didn’t have to memorize a certain formula in order to complete my work
Poems didn’t require research or a certain layout to follow
Poems are just your thoughts on paper nothing more nothing less
The rule of poetry is that there are no rules and within an institution that glorifies policies I found it to be truly amazing
Soon my self esteem started to rise
From writing poems I have found a certain part of myself I never saw before
A confident side
A creative side
I felt like a true individual
Not just any other student
I became myself through this wonderful form of expression
To this day I keep writing poetry because it makes me feel free and individualistic
In a society that is conforming and restrictive