Debate Club taught me more than how to speak.
I learned to argue points I don’t approve.
I got by doing what I didn’t seek:
the insight into how ideas can move
opponents, for as soon as I’d defend
them, I received immediate return.
I didn’t have to posture or pretend –
the argument I fashioned made me learn.

Since then I’ve started writing poems and prose,
and every time I try to postulate
the motives of my actors, I compose
a history that justifies the weight
of what ensued, and then my views expand,
exposing what I didn’t understand.