Quick Thoughts

Swallowing

Swallowing

Words

Thoughts

Sadness

Requires me to first open my mouth.

 

What if I didn’t ask for it?

No, I didn’t open my mouth.

Shut.

If nothing comes in,

Nothing should come out?

 

But something got

in a fraying soul

Transforming it into

expansive aches,

cold-doused in more words.

 

Words

Just words, they could be something,

But, they’re just marks on a page.

No matter how they are scratched in,

They are fleeting still.

 

Crumple it up, those words.

Breeding aches, they

find a way in,

But never get out.

Get out, get out.

 

Somehow, I didn’t swallow

but yet evidence shows,

my soul is clamped shut.

The only space left got

Swallowed up.

3 thoughts on “Swallowing

  1. I hope you wouldn’t mind if I add something here but I was reading Coleridge last night – “Hymn Before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamouni” – and he also used an intriguing modifier for soul, that I thought you might enjoy:

    Yet, like some sweet beguiling melody,
    So sweet, we know not we are listening to it,
    Thou, the meanwhile, wast blending with my thought,
    Yea, with my life and life’s own secret joy:
    Till the dilating Soul, enrapt, transfused,
    Into the mighty vision passing—there
    As in her natural form, swelled vast to Heaven!

  2. Dear Lee, I always so enjoy the dialogue of poets you bring onto my blog. Please keep commenting! “Dilating soul” is uniquely expressive and beautiful. I hope you and Maryanne are well – I hope to come visit this month sometime!

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