I have to write

Maslow once wrote in his Hierarchy of Needs, that once we reach the height of our pyramid, we must strive for self-actualization. He says,

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself."

As a person who feels he is a poet, I've decided that the only way to get better... the only way to reach that peak and make myself finish what I've started is to explore my earlier work, revise, and... write. So here goes. My goal is to contrast an old work with something new. If I give a gap of 5 to 10 years between posted work, maybe I can see where I was, where I am, and where I need to be.

Old

MIRAGE
Nefertitti reborn to queen my king and
I don't know how to act
Now that you are actually within my reach
As my head swims with a feeling I've never
Known before drowning me in emotion
Absolute madness calls to me on one side with
You on the other, and I realize that all is
Fair in war and that other thing that I
Really can't bring myself to mention
Afraid more that you will than you won't
Needing to speak but sitting in silence I
Kiss you in my dreams and caress you
Softly wishing my dreams into truth

New

away
your delirious woman power
pounds my vision with wants
i would not ask of my diamond love
delicate light voids death petals shadow
as the goddess whispers the rain to
flood my tongue so i
cannot scream your beauty

They were both written from a place of love, but I see the new one as more raw. More real. I was constrained writing both of them. Both needed specific info. The second though was written using one of those magnetic poetry kits. I think that being controlled and limited to the words I wanted to use helped me to make consciuos decisions about what I wanted to say and the words I could use to say it.

As a result, I feel that the second poem conveys a deeper feeling than the first even though I could be more free with the words in the first.