Silent Speeches

I have wanted to be heard for so long

I have screamed and cried inside my head, 

But I couln't find the courage to speak a word.

I have mentally begged for someone to listen, 

Laid my soul bare in a language nobody else could understand.

I have wanted to be heard for so long.

I never thought that writing could help me.

Much less writing poetry.

It was just one more waste of time

And it wouldn't make anyone listen.

I have wanted to be heard for so long.

I started writing because people told me I should,

I just figured why not.

I wrote what I felt and I didn't care if people liked it.

I just wrote for me.

I just wanted to be heard.

The more a wrote the more I felt seen.

I let my poems be read and I read my poems to people.

With every word I wrote and every phrase I shared 

I stepped a little closer to the microphone.

I started being heard.

I joined a poetry club at my school.

I shared more of my poems and and wrote my story 

And grabbed that microphone and turned up the volume.

My silent speeches were no longer silent.

I was heard.

Truly heard, and understood,

And I realized that I don't have to wait for someone to hear me.

I can make myself heard, and people will listen,

And the key to that, for me, is poetry.