Say It's Real

The first time someone called me a poet, I could hardly believe it. Was I...for real? "Yes, a poet," said my friend. I turned the words over and inside out, shook them and put them on. They fit.

I thought of this yesterday when a blooming new poet sent me a couple of poems and said, "I really need help to make these real." Of course they were already real.

In 1991, when I had my first article published, I brought it to church to show everyone. "So you're a writer," the folks said. It was the first time I had shared my writing. "Yes," I told them.

Every week I meet someone who is braving whether or not to call herself a writer for the very first time. "You are a writer," I affirm. Go ahead. Tell someone today who you are. Say the truth out loud, even if you feel like an April fool.