I find that my first draft of a poem or prose piece is me telling the story to myself.
The poem I'm trying to write right now is... tough. It draws on a real situation easily buried by optics. I look at this mess of a violent episode and I just see how every facet of it tweaks different discourses. How a victim is supposed to act toward a perp. What is and is not acceptable to dwell upon or feel.
Big, big challenge - but I want to find my words for this. And will. One draft at a time.