Sooner or later 
Writer’s need a real audience 
Writers need someone
To listen 
To what they have written 
Unless it is a diary or a journal 
When writers 
Share their work 
They give others 
A chance to react 
And respond 
Those responses may be
Critiques, reviews, praise
Those responses may 
Please, shock  
Or surprise 
Publishers exercise 
The option 
To reject
Which will never ever stop 
Writers
Because there are millions 
Of people out there
That have something
To say.

Perry Terrell is a poet and children’s story author who lives in Oakland, CA.