Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets but sometimes our reach extends outside of the state. Steven Atkinson lives in Victoria, Australia.
Atkinson is 54 years old. He’s married with an adult son. He recently started writing poetry again and created a YouTube Channel called Steve’s poems. This poem is called “Life.”
Where am I going?
What am I doing?
What is it I'm trying to find?
Does my pathway lead to somewhere?
Am I just losing my mind?
Why am I struggling?
Is how I’m thinking
stopping me from trying to evolve?
Is life a mystery for me to ponder?
What is it I'm trying to solve?
Is how I'm thinking creating barriers?
And stopping me from what I'm meant to do?
If all the answers lie inside me?
What is it I need from you?
Do you need things to satisfy you
and fill the void that's in your life?
Should I be happy with where I am now?
Like a bird taken to flight.
It seems we all have our challenges
to push us so we all can grow.
And if I'm learning I’m moving forward.
So, I can learn what I'm meant to know.
Does being messed up make you human
with the capacity for change?
And if the sunshine makes me happy?
How do I feel when it rains?
Do you hide from your problems?
That may be hidden and buried deep?
And if you continue to ignore them?
Does it affect how you eat and sleep?
We are all people who need other people.
So, we can love, bond, share and grow.
And if you think you don't need people,
You have a long way to go.
Do my addictions hide a problem?
Because it hides an emotional cause.
And it still lingers in my body.
Trying to hide some of my flaws?
Does inner peace bring me fulfilment?
And is it easy to achieve?
If you just live in the now?
Does that give me room to breathe?
Have you become afraid of failure?
Are you too afraid to try?
Are there lessons here to help us?
When we ask the question why?
Do you question what you’re hearing?
Is everything you’re told the truth?
Can the facts be quite revealing?
Do you feel that you need proof?
As our world keeps on turning.
Nothing seems to stay the same.
But one thing in life we are learning.
Everything will change.
- Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.
