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Best Poems Written by Emma Howard

Below are the all-time best Emma Howard poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Emma Howard Poem

Beautiful Thoughts

I stare at my screen
Knowing the feeling I want to express but
The words refuse to come.
My fingers hover,
Waiting to be used
Waiting for my speech
My eloquent thoughts
To write themselves.
But nothing comes

I cannot say what I want
With the voice that I have.
My simple words cannot communicate
All the emotion I know is there.
They are not good enough to be beautiful
They are not enough.
I am not enough.
The screen turns black
As if telling me to give in.
My thoughts seem small and 
Insignificant

Then
From the stillness sings a voice
To tell me I can.
To tell me it is not about waiting
For the perfect words
I must find my own way.
It is not about anyone else
It is about me.
And I know,
I know what to do.

Embrace my own hurt
Turn it into light,
And peace,
And joy.

Without knowing,
I have created a poem,
A song,
Something wonderful.
Beauty that came from despair.
They will say it is a waste
Of time,
Of paper,
Of myself.
That it is only endless words
Meaning nothing.
They are right. 
It means nothing to them
Because I did not write it for them.

It is mine.
And it is beautiful.

Details | Emma Howard Poem

What to Wear?

You say
It's not my fault
For being human
But still 
You put me in a box
You tell me I cannot
Wear my favorite clothes
Because 
Of men
How they 
Will do anything
But why should I
Change so they don't have to?
Why should I
Pretend I'm not a woman?
Why is what I wear
Anyone's problem but mine?
Simple answer:
It's not.
But who cares
About justice?
Who cares 
About what I want?
Bend the rules for yourself
But hold fast
For me.
Why can't my clothes 
Be tight?
"Leaving nothing to the imagination"
Maybe I should just
Wear a potato sack
Then they can imagine 
Whatever they want.

Details | Emma Howard Poem

Justice

They say
Justice is blind
But one person
Who cares only about themself
Gets to decide what justice is?
If justice
Is sending an innocent man
Away
From his family,
His friends,
His life,
No trial,
Because you don’t like his tattoo
Is justice,
I want no part of it.
Can you not see
If it can happen to him
It can happen to anyone.
Because he came here
Illegally
Is he less human?
Does anyone deserve this fate?
No.
But how are you so blind?
Why can’t you see,
If this goes on,
We will have nothing left!
Democracy
Is gone,
Supporting other countries
Is gone,
Love
Is gone.
So what is America
But an empty shell
Filled with people who care so much about themselves
That they cannot find it in them
To love anything but their ideals.
They have no compassion for an innocent man,
Less for those who may not be innocent
But still deserve due process.
Is this greatness? 
To harden your heart and love yourself?
I am crying 
Not only for this innocent man
But for you, America
For a country that was great 
Only when the people were great.
The tapestry of life
Will never be perfect
Knots
Tangles
Loose threads
But what happens
When one piece
Perhaps not the most beautiful
But still a part of this shining masterpiece
Is torn away?
How can this be normal?
How can this
Be life?

Details | Emma Howard Poem

Why?

The question I ask is
Simple
One that has been asked
For thousands of years.
I ask God,
Crying.
The family,
Remembering.
The doctors,
Angry.

Nobody can tell me
The answer to my question.
Silence meets my plea,
My demand,
My scream to the universe.
Others ask
My question.
Everyone wants to know, but
No one does.

The question
That inspired genius,
That broke boundaries,
That wrote and rewrote the limits of this world
Is short.
Three small letters, yet
It feels enormous in my mind.
Three small letters, yet
It seems the most important of all.

Why?
Why is there death?
Why did he die?
Why did they say he was fine?
Why could they not save him?
Why,
Why,
Why?

I will never know.
We will never know.
Me, and everyone who hurts.
We know we cannot find out why.
We know it is pointless,
But still, we ask.
Why?

So maybe I should ask
A different question.
Like,
How?
How do I heal?
How do I move on while still remembering?
Or
What?
What can I do?
What should I say?
Or
When?
When do I cry?
When do I laugh?
Or 

Maybe
I should not ask a question.
Maybe 
I should love
I should care
I should be there for the people who need me
Even when it hurts.
Maybe I do not need
To know why.

Because I cannot know why
It happened
I can only know 
That it did.
I could fight
For justice
For the doctors who
Said it was fine
Said it was normal
Said he did not need help
When he did.
I could make them pay for what they did.
Or I could choose
Forgiveness
Even though
They don’t 
Deserve it.

I am selfish.
I do not want to forgive
I want to hate.
But hate will not bring him back.

And I am ashamed. 
Ashamed because
He would have forgiven.

So I will not ask why
And I will forgive.


In memoriam J.R.F.

Details | Emma Howard Poem

A Blade of Grass

The beauty in a blade of grass is
No matter how many times
You cut it down,
It always rises again,
Growing taller than before
It never gets discouraged.