Скачать или смотреть Poetry: My Gift, My Burden by Mmachukwu Chukwumelu

The Poetry Archive Now! WordView 2025 Entry

Poet’s Biography
Mmachukwu Chukwumelu is a budding creative writer, a poet and a certified teacher. She is a 2× slam poetry winner at Poetreel. She also has her works on the LIBAC and BETA PEOPLE magazine.

Poem Description / Inspiration
My poem is all about how poetry can be a blessing and trial to poets.

Poem Text
Sometimes,
When the words hit me
It's like lightning striking the sky,
A sudden spark, a flash.
And, for a moment, I'm weightless
like I could float on every syllable,
My heart breaking loose,
My mind formless without a thought,
The unusual starting in my soul.
Passion. Fire so keen and pulsating.
Intoxicated with the miraculous infinite image of mystery,
I see the universe unfasten and open,
Planets palpitating,
Shadows punctured and riddled with fire arrows.
These words, they carry me to a place beyond myself,
To a place where I am more than just me.
They press into my chest,
Tugging, pulling, cutting deep
into memories I'd rather leave forgotten
It's like drowning
in everything I haven't said yet,
In everything I still need to feel.
So, when the top of my head feels like it's coming off,
I know the words have hit the mark
So, I write even when it hurts
Even when it feels like I'm tearing open pieces of myself
I'd thought I'd sealed away.
And, in the end,
I know there's beauty
in the way the words break me to build me back up.
This gift, this burden
both at once,
Is what it means
to feel the poetry
living inside of me.