Why Do We Write?

Last summer at my first overnight writer's camp, I wrote a poem called Why Do We Write? The first day of the camp in one of the classes, everyone was asked to go up to the chalkboard and write one of the reasons we write up there. I used a bunch of the reasons that resonated with me in the poem. A couple months ago I submitted the poem to my local library's poetry contest, and it was one of the winners! It's one of my favorites that I've written.

Why Do We Write?
Kate I. Foley

Why do we write?
You may as well ask, "Why do we breathe?"
We write to explore different realities,
To be more than ourselves and for
Self-expression.
To take control.
To give us life.
To see.
To build the worlds we wished we lived in,
To immortalize our thoughts and
Make people feel something.
Because we just love stories and to
Keep ourselves sane.
For freedom.
Because we have to.
Because our souls say we must.