Nicolekaylablank
Danielle Williams
blank
she was a flash
the stench of sweat and bodies pressed, so close
we reveled in our youth; the sweet promise of what was yet to come
life was to be lived!
so hands went fumbling
seizing every part of her, every part of me
she made it real.
kayla
she was infuriating
the flesh may be weak but the mind is weaker
memories of her form haunt my dreams
the body is a weapon against those of its own kind!
all of her was endless and all of her wanted me
unshed tears for what will never be
she made it physical.
nicole
she is my fate
all scraped knees and crooked smiles and soft hands
late night calls that stretch aimlessly into the dawn
fears overflowing until sobs break
dried eyes spring forth immortal dreams
i could never want for more, and I never will
she makes it eternal.
Silence
Danielle Williams
you talk too much.
your hands have already left tattoos that are siren songs
to those like you and i hate it i hate it i hate it.
i’ve tired everything bleach burns too bright and soap is too smooth
so i stopped scrubbing.
made a tiny box and folded myself up so nice and pretty
but the damn thing wouldn’t close
then i thought, maybe if i hold y breath they wouldn’t sing so loud
and i could smile and shake and blink and sleep without
you.
(i couldn’t.)
so then i talked until i was hoarse and ran until i heaved
yet i can still hear you, and the one after you, and the one after him, and i’m tired.
exhausted.
laying my head on this pillow and closing my eyes only
brings yellow rooms and crimson shirts and hours upon hours of silence.
because even when you couldn’t speak, your eyes would spell out
the fantasied you’d had in which i had just said
yes
devotions would spill like ink from my lips and we would bleed together
(yet i didn’t.)
so you took your needle and your thread and led stick after stitch
through my mouth into my head and my dreams and my life
to make me mute.
because if i can’t say yes
(and i won’t.)
then i shouldn’t
speak
at
all.
SHOUT 