Weaver of Shadows

So many different

 kinds of pressure

 I have each day

 pressure to be stronger

 pressure to be faster

 pressure to be smarter

 pressure to be funnier 

pressure to be useful

 pressure to win

 pressure to be better

 than I can be

 pressure to be

 what I can’t be

 and sometimes

 I get flattened

 by these mounds

 of pressures 

and these are 

just a few examples 

 want more?

 Pressure to be a

 better writer

 pressure to be

 a better student

 pressure to be

 what everyone wants

 me to be

 but to also

 be myself

 pressure to know 

what I want

 pressure to want

 what other people

 think I should want

 is there any question 

why I don’t know

 what I want

 and what I need?

 I’m the one

 pouring these pressures

 on myself

 or at least a lot of them

That doesn’t change

 the fact that they’re

 there, that they hurt.