Here amongst phonemes and graphemes I can hide the truth.
Words have the power to expose,
But they also hold the power to conceal.
Poetry lets me play outside the laws and boundaries of prose.
I can neglect the period
the capitalization
the rigid sentence structure
even the dictionary
For words and spellings are more fluid here.

It is a kind of open privacy.
Others may read my writing
Yet find their own interpretations.
So my secrets are safe.
I can draw a veil of words around them
With cryptic half-allusions
So only the intended can understand.
During the second World War,
Poems were used as codes,
Hiding messages of governmental plans.

That is why I write.
If I have seen
What I should not have seen,
If my heart is full
But safety begs my silence,
I can still commit my memories to paper
And if you don't have the key
You will never know
That my secrets are even there.