15 Of My Favorite Poems From Write About Now (WAN) Poetry

WANPOETRY is a poetry community based out of Houston, TX, and has multiple amazing poets who showcase their works there. This is for the Editorial Fellowship.

1. "Hey Thigh Meat" by Kas Poetess

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "Truth is our faces are things of beauty. Our thighs are those of beasts. So while society is at war with your body image, baby girl, you be at peace."

As a bigger girl who is on a journey to be proud of the body she has, but still has issues with a lot of her insecurities, this poem reminds of the truth. Even with all the flaws and insecurities, I always have and always will be, beautiful.

2. "Friends With Benefits" by Jae Nichelle

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "I have been fighting her for control of our house for years, fighting not to crack."

This poem is about this woman's relationship with her anxiety, and, as someone who was also diagnosed with anxiety, this hits very close to home. The way this author performs her poem is amazing, she fits in things like "breathe" and "don't rock" which are words that I, and probably countless others, have said over and over again to ourselves.

3. "Mental Health Barz" by Ebony Stewart

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "...they're like, 'your good,' and you're like, 'but I'm not,' and they're like 'you got this,' and you're like, 'but I don't,' and they're like, 'keep going,' and you're like, *deep breath* 'okay.'"

This poem reminds you that just because you have a great job, and you are blessed in life, does not mean that you will not still have hardships to push through. The words and the way the author performs her poem are breathtaking.

4. "Anxiety is like..." by Anacristina + Christopher Diaz

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "Anxiety is being trapped on a speeding train, heading for a cliff, and not being able to escape because you're the conductor."

First of all, the performance of the poem is spectacular! This poem explores the different ways people with anxiety feel in this world about things like someone leaving you a vague text or voicemail so your anxiety fills in the rest with the worst-case scenario to apologizing for everything that it starts to feel like you have to apologize for just existing.

5. "Damn, Girl" by Gloria B.

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "Vanity is only a sin because a woman who believes she deserves good things is harder to commodify."

This poem and the author are very empowering for women, or people in general, with bigger bodies. "Damn, girl" reminds me that just because I am a woman with a bigger body does not mean that I cannot love myself and own my sexiness, and know that I deserve only the best.

6. "Awkward Poem" by Anacristina

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "I hope you're not scared to make yourself known because, in a world of flawless robots, there's nothing more comforting than knowing you're not alone."

This poem is meant for people who constantly seem to make those awkward mistakes, and as someone who does this and then has their anxiety play the mistakes over and over, I understand. It usually seems like everyone else knows what they are supposed to do in life and they are not stumbling like me, but maybe all those people that I look at and see as handling life better than me maybe they are thinking the same thing looking at me.

7. "Patron Saint of Manic Depressives" by Clementine von Radics

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "His illness became his genius, which became his revelation."

I think this is a poem that people with their own mental illnesses can understand, and it mentions Vincent Van Gogh, which I love. This poem talks about how mental illness is hard to live with, but how there can also be beauty born from it. My best writing comes from those dark places that have I experienced in my worst bouts of depression and anxiety because writing is what helps me through those times. My mental illnesses are hard to handle, but honestly, they are a core part of me and I would not trade that part of me for anything.

8. "Teen Movie" by Rudy Francisco

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "At this age, I was a ballot box stuffed full of everyone's opinions except for my own."

This poem is for everyone who did not peak in high school, and maybe even the ones who did. This work is about the teen experience, but I think it could honestly apply to any hard time in a person's life. The author talks about seeing his experience play over and over again in his head like a movie, but I shut off the movie in my head about my worst experiences a while ago because I was ashamed of who I was then. After this poem though, I may turn it back on because in all honesty, I tried my best back and that is all of us can do.

9. "The MANual" by Kyla Jenée Lacey

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "So basically don't go out there walking and talking and breathing and thinking and blinking and winking and singing and drinking and dancing..."

This author wrote a list of things that, I imagine, either she has been told or other women she has known have been told about how to stay "safe" from men. I know these rules. They may not be the exact same as the ones I was told, but I have heard rules like these since I was 11 years old and started being sexualized because my breasts had decided to grow faster than the average person. I was told over and over what I needed to do to make sure men were not "uncomfortable" around me, even if that meant that now, at 22 years old, I am still uncomfortable around men. I just started wearing clothes my size instead of hiding in bagging clothes so men would not notice me, but not anymore because my body is gorgeous and it is not my problem to hide it, it is men's problem to show me the respect I deserve.

10. "Agnostic" by Roscoe Burnems

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "I just chose to stop looking through the pigeon-hole that is religion, felt a huge word like God is too big to put in a chapter book."

This poem discusses how the author became agnostic but also talks about his mother's Christian faith become stronger, and how they both arrived there. I was raised Christian, like a majority of Americans, and in college, one of my majors was Religious Studies because I had always had an interest in learning about how other religions see the world and their stories within the religion. This slowly started me on a journey that if you ask me now what my religious affiliation is, while I am not sure, I would probably lean toward agnostic. This is not because I lost faith, but because I realized there are too many beautiful religions out there to truly believe only one is right.

11. "Little Clay Thing" by Jae Nichelle

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "...if you don't know who you are, you will become who others tell you to be."

This is my favorite poem out of all of the Wanpoetry poems I have heard, and the line "you do not have to be marketable to be worth something" was my screensaver for weeks. This poem speaks to me because it discusses molding yourself to fit people's ideas of you, not because they make you, but because you assume no one will love you if you don't... at least that's what I thought. I spent so much of my life molding myself to find love, but usually, people would mold me and then get tired and throw me away. While I still have problems not molding to others, I have started molding for myself, to become someone I love because I will never leave.

12. "My Roommate Left a Post-It Note on the Dishes" by Megan Atencia

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: So, I guess what it 'looks like' is you are everything but despicable, you are beautiful, and you are loved."

This poem brought old memories that got my heart racing. The author talks about how her roommate left a post-it on the dirty in the sink saying she will clean them and she is sorry that she is despicable, but the author goes into her roommate's mental health and how she is worth more than dishes. In this poem, I relate to the roommate that left the dishes in the sink. I was this roommate, my anxiety and depression would get in the way of me doing basic tasks around the apartment, and seeing the way it affected my roommates killed me. I hated myself because how could I let down the people I loved most in the world? The people who did so much for me, and I couldn't do this for them? But I realized that, in letting down the people I love, I was letting myself down too. It pushed me to start therapy, and in this, I became a better person for myself and my loved ones.

13. "Petty" by Meccamorphosis

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "That's why I hate bad men who are good fathers, who have daughters cause it don't matter what I say to hurt him the only person that's roasting is me."

I enjoyed this poem because it reminds me of the "interesting" relationship with I have with my Dad. The author goes into the pain that her father caused her and how she can also feel the pain it caused her mother, but that most of the time, no matter how much she screams and yells at him, she is the one left in pain. My father caused me and my mother suffering, and I never really got to work through that pain with him because he never wanted to discuss it. So I could stay angry and in pain, but that only hurts me not him. Instead, I can let go and focus on future memories I will make with the ones who love me, and I really hope he can be included in those.

14. "Never Seattle" by S.C. Says

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "You have worth, kid, but you have to find it for yourself."

This poem is about the author talking to an older fellow who has maybe had a few too many drinks and decides to hear his story because he's cold and has nothing better to do but ends up learning an important lesson. I have heard the words "never settle" multiple times from my mother when it comes to romantic relationships. I never believed them though. I have been chasing my worth around since I was seven, and I thought I could find it in a romantic partner. Like if someone loves me I have to be worth something, and the sad thing is I never needed to chase because my worth has always been here inside me. So I looked at my schoolwork, my career, the number of people who liked me, and the friends I had, but it was not there either. My worth is found in the fact that I am living every day and trying to be the best that I can be... most days.

15. "Write Myself Into A Poem" by AP

Wanpoetry / Via youtu.be

Favorite line: "Because out of all the things I know to be true, I know I love poetry."

I thought this poem would be a good way to end this list. This author, along with all the other authors I have listed and every author a part of the Wanpoetry community, does a great job of showing the power of a poem. I fell in love with poetry the way I think most people fall in love, not sure when it happened but you fell hard. Poetry, whether writing or listening or reading it, has saved me, challenged me, inspired me, empowered me, and made me feel not alone. If you do not like every poem or any poem on this list that is fine because I promise you that if you go through the Wanpoetry youtube account, or any other way of finding poetry, you will find something that awakens something in you. If you do not then maybe this is your opportunity to write that poem you are trying to find for yourself.