You are not decoration.
You are not luxury.
You are necessity.
When the world fractures into noise,
you are the thread that pulls silence into shape.
When language of power collapses into slogans,
you restore words to their marrow,
you return them to blood, to breath.
You are the witness who doesn’t look away.
You are the mirror that refuses to lie.
You are the fire in the throat of people
who have forgotten they still have voices.
They will say poetry does not feed.
They will say it cannot mend broken systems.
But you know—
it feeds what hunger cannot name,
it stitches what power has torn open,
it plants seeds in soil scorched bare by greed.
You are not writing for applause.
You are writing for survival.
You are writing for memory.
You are writing so that truth does not dissolve.
In a world that rushes toward forgetting,
you slow down time.
You open a wound to show its light.
You open a sky inside a page.
Every line you carve is resistance.
Every stanza is shelter.
Every poem is a lantern—
and without you, darkness grows too easily.
So, write poet.
Write until the world remembers
what it means to feel,
to rage,
to dream,
to stay alive.
Photo credits: Pinterest
Bjorn hosts at dVerse where he challenges us to use the literary device
of changing our perspective. Come join us! 💛
Posted for MTB: Perspective Revisited @dVerse Poets Pub
36 Responses
Wow… this reads like a manifesto and yes, this is what keeps us going… love it so much.
Thank you so much, Bjorn 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
(and thank you for the glorious prompt) 🥂
The direct address felt like you were talking to me directly, Sanaa! I am ready to take up the challenge! I especially love the lines:
‘When the world fractures into noise,
you are the thread that pulls silence into shape’
and
‘In a world that rushes toward forgetting,
you slow down time.
You open a wound to show its light.
You open a sky inside a page.’
I concur with those lines too that Kim chose
Thank you so much, Laura! x
Aww gosh! Thank you so much, Kim 😍 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
Sanaa – I love how you let the reader wonder for quite a while as to the subject of the pronoun – so many poetic lines to underscore the theme not least:
“you restore words to their marrow,
you return them to blood, to breath. “
Thank you so much, Laura 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Ars poetica at its finest.
Thank you so much, Ken 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
Such a solid heartfelt piem
“You open a sky inside a page.”
Much♡love
Thank you so much, Gillena 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
Much love back to you 🥂
“Poetry feeds….what canot have a name.” I am struck by those lines, Sanaa. Writing for survival and memory….I do that too. Awesome writing.
Thank you so much, Sherry 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Sometimes I cannot express how much a poem moves me to the core, but I am crying right now. This one is absolutely “necessary”. Thank you for this exquisite gift of words, Sanaa.
Aww gosh! Thank you so much, Mish 😘 so glad the poem spoke to you 💄❤️
What an amazing poem – it speaks much truth and conviction and the end is superb – Jae
Thank you so much, Jae 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
Wonderfully written, Sanaa.
Thank you so much, Dwight 😀 so good to see you 💄❤️
Carry if forward as far as you can and leave it in better shape than you received it: That’s what this generation of poets can do. I doubt that matters much in this silencing whirling howl of Promethean fire we call world, but what else arewegonnado? as the sullen mobsters say. Great address to the art.
Thank you so much, Brendan 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Inside the consummate lyricist of Romance, glows the burning coal of a Polemicist – Bravo Sanaa – a Manifesto indeed “Poets Arise – Play Your Part!”…
Thank you so much, Andrew 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
The second person address works well in this piece. The poem could be to the poet herself and/or to the reader. It’s a great pep talk when voices are being stolen and silenced.
Thank you so much, Maria 😀 so glad the poem and its imagery appealed to you 💄❤️
Repeating the comment I left on Facebook ~~~
So many emotions conjured by your astounding write, Sanaa! Magic.
Thank you so much, my dearest Helen 😘 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
The second person perspective sets the tone and does wonders in appealing to the reader on a personal level!
I especially like this line:
“ You are writing so that truth does not dissolve.”
Thank you so much, Abigail 😍 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
A beautiful poem!
Thank you so much, Christine 🥰 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
Sanaa, this reads like a mission statement. Each poet needs it on a poster to hang on the wall. We are so often dismissed as fluff, but we do all of those things you lay out. Thank you <3
Aww gosh! Thank you so much, Lisa 😘 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
““You open a sky inside a page.”
What a glorious poem!
Bravo, Sanaa! A manifesto for all poets. This spoke straight to my heart. ❤️❤️