Something for Someone Else

I cannot decide: a poem
or manifesto to write.
How can I understand and write
poetry if I cannot write
nor understand myself?
Publish a book or journal article.
What do I have to say, really?
Other poems are for other people.
I need my own poems;
my life in ink out before me,
splayed and splashed,
before I craft my words into
something for someone else.