Write Your Truth

"I am often asked how I learned how to write.
THAT is a question, I do not have the words for.
But I suppose it started some time in elementary school,
far before metaphors and alliteration.
It started with Accelerated Reading Points.
It started with long trips to the public library with my mommy,
each week a bit more excited than the one before.
Racing my brother through the bookshelves and being "shhh'ed" by the old librarians.
Older cousins knew ALL the big words and I wanted to be just like them.
It grew in D.E.A.R. time.
Drop Everything And Read was custom in the Brydie house.
I'd climb onto my daddy's lap and stumble over all the new words I'd learned.
"Sound it out," he'd whisper. "You got it baby girl."
After school, we'd take trips to the bookstore.
I'd walk in and stand in awe of all the books I have yet to read.
My parents would burst open my door late at night and yell because I was buried in new literature.
"Just a minute," I'd plead. "I think Bella and Jacob might kiss."
"One more chapter."
"One more page."
"Just one more sentence."
And who can argue with a cute face and a thirsty mind.
It blossomed when I "fell in love."
Eleventh grade and scavenging the library for books on broken hearts.
Poems, and quotes, and songs got me through.
I found that there were words for everything.
The smell of Gram's oatmeal raisin cookies.
The uncontrollable laughs with high school friends.
The emptiness I felt, when my grandfather was called Home.
There are words for everything,
and the coolest thing is, you don't have to say them aloud.
Sometimes your voice trembles, and your throat gets all scratchy.
Sometimes you are too afraid to even try.
It flourished when I bought a tan leather notebook.
$38.95 from Barnes and Noble,
but I wanted it.
And I learned how to love lexicon down the pages of this journal.
It multiplied when I decided to share.
When I realized the power in my voice.
When I understood that I can write my own story.
I'd been waiting for others to do it for me.
So, I picked up my pen.
Flipped to an empty page.
And Wrote My Truth."

-Naturallykbiggie, Write Your Truth