"because truth is stranger than fiction"
This started out as something I wrote for myself. It wasn’t necessarily a poem. But I decided to turn it into something for you as well. I rewrote it in third person instead of first person. Do not be cheap with yourself. Know your worth. Know your value. Be you. Love you.
Deafening silence
and the torture
Of stillness
The quiet awe
Of when hearts break
Shattering glass
With no sound
Just pieces of thought matter
And stains of emotions
Smeared
No one will look up
Because pain has no sound
No warning
Except to pen a tear
The silent scribble
Of the scribe
When hearts break
In crowded rooms
Dear Love,
your voice is the sound of pages
I’ve been waiting to read my entire life
like run on sentences
in a book too perfect to end
tell me
how do you shackle power to punctuation
If I could
I would end this poem with a period
or place a comma in the places I need
to catch my breath
but you
will only rush to the tips of my fingers
you see love
will only leak
from the pores in my skin
like the sounds of many waters
flooding its way from Noah’s Ark
you shelter me
like an infant
carefully encased in its mother’s womb
before language existed
before there was ever a need of capital letters
dear captain
you chose us
before there was a thing called history
sucking at its mother’s breast
we are nurtured by the past
to understand the future
Dear Love,
you are the answer to every question
and the sound of your mercy
is the only thing worth setting my alarm clock to
so I’ve chosen to reverence you this way
with outstretched pieces of paper
and ink pens
and a medley of words
all purposed to form the letters of your name
all destined to sing your praise
with no punctuation
no commas
or periods
or apostrophes
just run on sentences
limitless
like sign language I don’t remember learning in Public School
and while my tongue clings to the roof of my mouth
while my heart waits
I’ll write you poems
in the form of prayers
on the palms of my hands
and I’ll leave them running
like fountains of compassion
overflowing the levees of thought
I’ll leave them open
unedited
unrevised
and grammatically incorrect
so you’ll read me
like you always do
and never forget what my heart looks like
with no punctuation
because all the world has ever needed
was love.
Would you let me ribbon tie my waiting into your lap?
Take me dripping in mistakes like I got flaws for fragrance
Can you wait for me to get it right?
This belly
filled to the brim with passion
like I got fire clenched in my fists and a furnace in my throat
As if you’d just emerged from the safety of your mother’s womb
would you wait for me
to breathe life into your lungs
to breathe logic into your conscience?
Let kindness touch you gentle,
soft like pillow talk
or whispering prayers in a bowl of incense
Touch me endurance
and I’ll dip my hands into purpose
and feed you hope through a straw
So let the storms begin
let the winds blow
and the nations rage
let the heavens chop off pieces of ice for our tribulation
let hailstones come bungee jumping from the sky to put dents in our joy
and I promise you
if you wait for me
I’ll command my words to stitch you a smile
and in time
we will simmer tragedy
into the polished pillars
of diamonds in the ruff.
Wait for me.
I dreamed in my mind
that the Earth seemed to never move
and the ships that sailed on it were slow and quite
they never sounded their horns
or went “Chu! Chu!”
the wind never blew
the stars never popped out of the sky
like silk sheets
and the thunder
never growled its teeth
the fish sat silent
still
alone
even they refused to move
just waited
until the land came home
all of it
everything was gone
the people were like zombies in every town
they went about their daily routines
but from sun up
to sun down
no one
made a sound
it was deception they decided to take it
either that or I’m lost in the matrix
surrounded by people that when they opened their mouths
it seemed they faked it
they would walk right through me
and then walk into the streets
as if with their eyes they could not see
I dreamed the worst dream
no more sun beaming down
no more dirt covering this hallow ground
instead I feel as though I am among graves
people who walk around as if with no brains
but as I stop
and I’m staring a dead man in his face
I realize that these people
have been spiritually
erased.
Wisdom is an unknown woman
her identity absent for too long now
a distorted image of degrees and formulas
neatly wrapped into the deceptive image
of professors and graduates of universities
with egos that stand taller than the academic buildings
from which they’ve misplaced their minds
creativity hung
twisted
in the silent hallways of repeated ignorance
wisdom is an unknown woman
hastening to make herself known to those who seek her
a radiant beauty of lawful lips she descends
into the beautiful body of instruction
only the most sincere men are courageous enough to approach her
and only the strong can be heard by her
for she whispers soft delicacies
into ears that wish her breath to brush upon their cheeks
but she is abandoned by men who do not delight in her structures
who believe her throne is a worthless scepter
that she wears like a burden
too foolish to know that there is nothing
that she cannot carry
But fools do not speak the language of wisdom
cannot hear the prayers coming from her tongues
the songs pouring forth from her words
wisdom is an unknown woman
to the man
to the woman
to the person
who values the knowledge of custom papers
with expensive ink,
this they chose over her
they cannot see that gold is but a little sand in her sight
and that silver is like clay before her
because her radiance never ceases
and in her hands is unaccounted
wealth
Dear Ink Pen,
No, just listen.
I want your lips
nestled
against the collar bone
Of this page
I don’t care that people do not hand-write anymore
I need you
nibbling at history
and touching passions
I desire your soul
pressed hard against my fingers
I need you
touching minds
and resurrecting souls
In private places
Let your hands roam their computer screens
Kissing the interior of their hearts
Freeing the thoughts of men
Leave us naked with hope
Vulnerable
And open with the desire
For your nose against the nape of our necks
Let us drink of the truth dripping from your mouth
The taste of light lingering on your breath
But first I need you
Your lips
Nestled
Ball pointed
Against the collar bone
Of this page.
Yes, that’s it.
Now
touch them.