ALMOST THIRTEEN
I am bad eyesight
chit-chatting with strangers
I am the know-it-all
running my smart-mouth
I am the evergreen
needles pointy and delicate
I am the new roof
red, tiled, my edges rough
I am the rosary
beading prayers all by myself
—from 2017 Rattle Young Poets Anthology
__________
Why do you like to write poetry?
Haley M. Beary: “I write poetry because it’s fun to express what I’m thinking into stanzas and lines rather than sentences and paragraphs. In poetry you can use all sorts of figurative language and word things differently than you would in casual talk, and that’s what makes poetry fun. Poetry also helps me put my thoughts into words on a paper when I can’t exactly describe what I’m thinking, and that’s why I write poetry.”
