Learning Silence Ain't Golden

This poem is not the most "literary" of my work; it is an attempt to reconcile my present with the knowledge of my past at a time when I hadn't admitted most truths to myself, let alone to others.


My story is very short
Haven't known you too long
But I will tell you it's talking
That turns back and fights me

I don't spill my guts to just anyone
Guts never go back right
Once they've been spilled
They don't clean up easy
They always leave stains

Too many people don't like my words
They come out too fast
They come out like ice
Shards melting on cloth
To dry yellow and stiff

My words are dangerous
But you crave them like candy
Thinking silence is bitter
But it ain't silence that hurts me
When talking splits me open
Silence just sits in me
Like a rock I never throw

Written January 1, 1992


Cyndi / Last Modified: 9/14/97

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