The Spaces Between Words
Poetry
Gives me a chance to say
The things my voice can’t manage,
And it has taught me
That sometimes you say more
By not saying anything at all
Or just by saying less.
You can find more meaning
In what isn’t said
Than in what is.
Poetry
Has taught me honesty.
There are secrets
In the gaps between my ribs
And they die before they reach
My tongue.
But ink on paper,
Fingers on a keyboard,
Short lines in a column
Down the page,
These make it possible
To speak.
In poems,
I can spill my heart,
Pull it from my chest and tape it,
Beating,
To the empty page,
And only I will know
My truth.
Poetry
Has taught me bravery.
There are words
I cannot say out loud.
When I try,
They get stuck in my throat,
And I choke on them
Before ever making a sound.
Poems are my voice
When I have none,
To tell the stories
I never meant to hide.
Poetry
Has taught me that
People are poems,
Because they say more
When they’re silent, too.
They weave stories
With their smudged lipstick,
Messy hair, shaking fingers,
Fading scars.
Maybe they say one thing
When really they mean
Another.
You can tell the difference
By looking at the glint of light
In their eyes,
Or the bruises underneath,
Or the tired smile they offer
That’s not really a smile
At all.
But I would never have
Known this,
If poetry hadn’t taught me
How to read between the lines.
Poetry has taught me
That tongues lie,
And that poetry is a soul
Laid bare.