'Me' (or 'Poetry from a prompt-sheet', Jawbone 'Write to Speak' Workshop 22/06/25)

This poem was created during a Jawbone 'Write to speak' workshop in Bridport on the 22nd June 2025. It came about when we were asked to complete a prompt sheet 'Being honest with you' - filling in all our honest thoughts against the prompt words listed, as per the list below. Rather than one word answers to each or whole sentences independent of each other, mine naturally flowed as a piece of poetry in its own right - I read it out with emotion, volume in the parts which resonated with the spirit of the piece and clearly in the way I'd punctuated it for dramatic effect. It goes like this:

I AM...              Me.

I AM NOT...          You.

I CAN...             speak but

I CANNOT...          always be heard.

I WILL...            frustrate you but

I WON'T...           argue.

I HAVE...            a space in my heart for you,

I HAVE NEVER...      not held space for you.

I LIKE...            the way nature tells me things,

I DON'T LIKE...      the way we've been nurtured to think "consume!"

I LOVE...            the way nature tells me things,

I HATE...            the way we've been nurtured to think "consume!"

I AM ALWAYS...       open to differences,

I NEVER...           close the door on relationships, or ideas, or wants, or needs.

I AM GOOD AT...      hearing the voice inside of me, but

I AM NOT GOOD AT...  being heard inside of your head.

I NEED...            to be heard.

I WANT...            to be heard.

I WANT LESS OF...    your voice inside me,

I WANT MORE OF...    your understanding.

I BELIEVE...         in peace, love and unity, but

I DON'T BELIEVE...   in cowardice.

I WISH THAT I COULD  find the words you'd hear as mine.

I WISH THAT I HADN'T fallen so deep.


A. Wensley

22.06.2025




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