This poem is the breath i take

before I speak.

that air that gets

caught

in my lungs

and is released with an empty

absence of words.

your eyes on me

“what were you going to say?”

hangs in the air

silence so loud my ears ring

as i search for the words

in the forest of my mind.

 

this poem is the words i cannot find.

the letters that fail to

order correctly

that fail

Because sometimes my thoughts

just slip through the fingers

of my own voice

 

so just touch me,

you’ll hear them.

they’ll vibrate your eardrums

like you don’t know what hit you

and just hold me.

you’ll feel my words

with every inhale

every exhale

the beats of my heart

resonating through my fingertips to yours

and please

just kiss me.

you’ll taste the words on my lips

like sweet, sweet candy.

 

i like to think i’m a poet

but ironically

words taste funny in my mouth

ironically

they run away from me

when i try to translate

them from raw heart

to that raspy noise

i call a voice

 

i have a fear

of pure words.

words from somewhere as naked

as my soul

dropping one by one

into the still pool of silence

are what scare me most.

so don’t make me expose

that bare soul

under bright lights

 

just touch me

kiss me

listen to my body

until suddenly

we are as vulnerable as our words

and i forget my heart is naked

because i am so wrapped up in you

and my raw words pour into the silence

and the breath before i speak

is not a pause

but a note in the song

of my thoughts

and the cold wall

of that quick breath

melts away

like my insides do

when you touch me

 

so please,

just strip

the wall slowly.

eyes on my bare soul

are like headlights to a deer.

taste the words

feel them

melt into them

and maybe soon

that raspy noise i call a voice

will sing the song

that my heart does

when you kiss me.

But for now,

I'm speechless.