poems by erika

poem #7- first draft

i am a first draft.

with 13 years on me

and many more onwards

i am a first draft-

perfectly incomplete.

when you finish your first draft,

it ends up a mess.

i am a mess.

with my good on the right

and my bad on the left

and my everything else jumbled somewhere in between

i am a mess.

to fix your messy first draft,

you edit.

i am in a stage of editing,

and probably forever will be.

i enhance my good

and strengthen my bad

but i will always be editing.

it can take a writer

a million different drafts

before the reach the one

they decide will be their final.

i will give myself a million different chances

before i reach my final

because i am a first draft,

and i am editing. 

written august 2, 2015

[fun fact: this is the first poem out of this collection that was not written when i was in seventh grade.]