21st Century Prophets

We Poets are
21st Century Prophets
filling up notebooks
and screaming on stages

We connect in a fashion
as we wear words

We dance on pages
stripping naked
to get you to listen
like what we
have to say
can be heard
better by eyes
but only 4%
of the public
suffers with
Sinestesia

And still we slash
our wrists with ballpoint pens
to get our souls heard

Hanging our pain like paintings
in an art exhibit entitled
"Emotional Poets"

Wanting
Waiting
Wishing
for an
Art Critic
to tare
us apart

Letter by letter
word for word

Because...

Because we are so
tightly put together

That we love
to be torn apart

We turn
the pain
into art
and scars
into deeply
embedded
ink wells

Don't you see?

We 21st Century Prophets
hold the keys to our
broken heart cages
by wielding pens in ways
that spark thought

Cant you see?

Our wrists are still tender
yet we slash them open
again and again because...

Because writers block
is a far far worse
form of torture

And never
being read
is a fate
worse than death

By Samantha Campbell

Author's Note

you can find the word poets in prophets thus inspiring the whole poem

This feels like one of those never done poems ... permanently under construction lol

Reviews

[Lydia Shutter]

"And still we slash
our wrists with ballpoint pens
to get our souls heard"

This says it all! We are poets and you have captured our essence with your wonderful words. Yes, we NEED to express ourselves and we want to be read...to touch other lives and to reach out across the world. So emotive and very powerful. Great work. Lydi**

[Jamestown]

Awesome message! I enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing and b-blessed!

[Leviathus Fortes]

And never
being read
is a fate
worse than death


We are bearing of our souls with every word we pen.
To not be read gives meaning that our souls matter not.
And it is, at that moment, that we feel truly alone.
Lost.

[Samantha ~virginpoet]

Exactly .... Thank you

[Astrid]

Such loveliness and creative metaphorical language.

[Justin Xavier Smith]

Loving the sentiment here. So true. Some of the writing is a little too obvious but it still manages to be powerful and evoke exactly what I assume you're going for. I might do another draft just to tighten some things up, but I liked it.

[Samantha ~virginpoet]

Thank you for your review :)

[♥ Ari Skye ♥]

I really like it. I agree, us writers/artists, tend to ask for pain because without it, we have no inspiration. There is a reason why artists are so sensitive and most are troubles souls. I believe you really showcased that here. I love these lines:
Our wrists are still tender
yet we slash them open
again and again because...

Because writers block
is a far far worse
form of torture

Really great job Samantha

[Pushkar Prabhat]

this is so freaking awesome!!!
WoW!!!
i almost hate myself for not having read this any sooner.
i absolutely loved it!!!!!
thank you Mam!!
:)

[外人 (Gaiji..]

Very, very interesting ! I see the influence of Victor Hugo :) The idea of poets being prophets has been written down in one of his great poems. The focus on the sensibility of the poets, again same inspiration ! XD Victor Hugo said "poet, tu es une femme" (= poet, you are a woman).
The end, instead, brought me back to latin literature, Oratio in a great poem of his expressed the same issue, even if from a different perspective. Poems, were for him, a part of him that would outlive his biological life (non omnia moriar = not completely I will die) and that will last longer than "the pyramids of Egypt".
Great poem, great topics, thank you for making me remember the happy time I spent studying literatures :)

[Samantha ~virginpoet]

Thank you for that bit of knowledge. I did not know that, It's very interesting. I write free verse I don't try to conform to any style. I try to have my own, No clue if I have succeeded in that lol. But like Oratio I hope my poems way out live me and "not completely I will die" Perhaps one day I will know the style in which I write

Thank you for taking the time to read and review my poem it's greatly appreciated