Considered my first (or second) "serious" poem, The Missing Color was born in a bathroom in 2015 around 7AM. The week before, my ELA teacher had told us about a poetry contest held by the America [sic] Library of Poetry. The best poems within the school would be chosen to be a part of their latest anthology, Eloquence.
Back then, my 12 year old self didn't see myself as a poet, but as a writer. I'd mostly only written short stories in school and had a dream of becoming an author. I'd written a few poems, but they were one-offs and didn't have much thought put into them. This poem, however, would be different.
Naturally, I procrastinated and found myself on the morning the poem was due with nothing but sleepy eyes. Nonetheless, I decided on a "rainbow" concept and built the poem around that. Each stanza would focus on a different color and how I saw certain aspects of life through them. I wanted a sense of mystery, and so I made the reader decide what the final color was (in my mind, it's purple!)
In about 20 minutes, I'd mentally written an entire poem all while getting ready for school. At the time, it was one of my biggest feats and I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. Although the contest turned out to be a scam (all of my school's submissions — errors and all — made it in the book and each student had to pay if they wanted a copy of the book), the false opportunity sparked a change in my writing and encouraged me to write more poetry (and eventually songs).
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