On poetry

I was a terrible poet
in my pre-adolescent years.
Blindly following tradition —
writing whatever words rhymed
rather than what
nature made me want to write.
Why did I write poetry at a time when
I did not understand it?
Ask my twelve-year-old self
why one writes poetry
and I could not answer.
Ask me now
the same question,
and I would respond
“to express what
cannot be expressed
as powerfully in prose”.