Why Poetry?

I write poetry because I can
And because I believe
That I have something to say
Worth saying.
Poetry allows me
To express myself,
To share my thoughts and ideas,
To clarify my thinking,
To play with language,
To examine my pretensions
To contemplate the meanings
I have assigned to things,
To reflect on the life I have lived
And to notice how
Time changes my view of things.
Poetry allows me
To search for nuggets of gold
Buried in my past
And to reveal
Whatever kernels of wisdom
I might have gained along the way.
It allows me to point out
The beauty I see,
To say what is so for me,
And to get at the essence
Of what it is to be human.