Creative, not performative

She did not realize when her outlet creative

Morphed imperceptibly into a life performative..

*

When she first started writing, her poems were meant

For her eyes only, she had no intent

Of sharing her innermost thoughts publicly

She wrote in a private journal that no one else could see

*

After stumbling across social media accounts focused on poetry

She created an account and posted a poem publicly

She got nice comments, that encouraged her to post more

Her poetry was no longer confined to a private journal as before

She trimmed her poems to fit the layout required

A more sensational tone to attract followers her poetry acquired

The algorithms to drive engagement changed, and so did she

She began to post videos of herself performing poetry

*

The videos catapulted her to fame unprecedented

She hired additional staff as her endeavor became bigger than intended

Offers of live performance she began to receive

Her focus now shifted to how she was being perceived

Soon it became less about the actual poetic content

And more about how her craft to the world she could present

In order to get maximum engagement and sponsorships lucrative

Her writing and her life had become performative

*

It happened so fast that she did not even realize

How her writing had changed before her eyes

Until she was asked to change her verses keeping her audience in mind

It was only then that she realized she had been blind

To the fact that her writing voice was no longer her own

Her creative pursuit had into a huge business grown

With staff to support she had the responsibility

To run her business, make sufficient money

*

She stuck to her convictions, and started scaling back

On the business side of the venture for which appetite she lacked

She continued to write, but gave up performing poetry

And reclaimed her voice, her authenticity