Changing the Silence

by Melinda.Stone17

March 7, 2014

I value words for their movement,

For the slip, slip, slip

Of sounds off a tongue

Slick with anticipation of the coming

Sounds and reverberations that they bring

Through lips stained red by

Blood splashes of color and ideas

With passion bursting, brimming up,

Burning away at a st-st-stuttering

Speech impediment I didn’t ask for

That takes away my meaning

Until it’s just the sound of my voice

Grating like a dull knife on crushed ice

But when I can stop and slow and breathe

Out my words and voice and meaning

The life they bring

Then I don’t even know what I would say

Just that maybe, I would scream.

And that my voice cracks and breaks

Like paint on a weathered old door

Worn out from use and shuts and slams

Because if I get a thousand words a day,

I’d use twenty million just begging for more.

So that one day, I could fully enunciate

The color held in a morning rain

With the sun lighting up through and behind

Like greased lightening-toothed prongs of absolute glory.

And how when I open my eyes,

I’m filled with thoughts that don’t get fully realized.

Because when I was a child, I was told

To sing to my own tune

And dance to the beat of my own drum

But I ignored all that and became what we all become.

Like a run out photocopier of wiped out ink

Until my voice was just a silent whisper

In a vacuum of murmurs.

But it’s metamorphasizing, evolving,

Individualizing, carving, curving out

A rhythm and sound that will make us dance

Until our feet bleed out the words of our hearts.

I won’t penny pinch, count, or hoard my words

Because they’re destined to be used for now,

And even if my mouth runs dry

And my lips stumble and bumble in an unceasing tumble

Or a relentless fumble around sounds that crumble

Like worn-out paper in a search for good enough.

Because broken opportunities are a dime a dozen

And I’m not going to wait for a perfect moment

To say just the right thing

Because that day will never come

And waiting for time to pass me by

Is a waste of my

Fully functioning

Solely unique

Voice.

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