Do I write

Do I write

Darren White

Moderator
Staff member
suppose this is a poem
a collection of letters stringed to random words
and not a small voice
that emerges from between lines
that tries to find a way to be heard

suppose this is a child
muted, silenced, his fingers write
incomprehensible letters
which others cannot see
as language

would you say
miscommunication?
would you say
good riddance?
can you see him within

this twisted body, those
curled up legs
can you see his sharp mind
behind the strange façade...
can you?
 
The stuff "that emerges from between the lines" is the really the heart of poetry, isn't it? Very nice!
 
Yeah, exactly. That is where the real poetry lies. It's where our heart is, and where our feelings are hidden.
Thank you.
 
Funny to think of the phrase... read between the lines. Absolutely, this is the heart of a poem... and the reason poets are so important to all of us. I'm ever mindful of a quote from Sri Nisargadatta who said "the mind creates the abyss that the heart crosses." The language of the heart is found in everything that evokes tenderness and certainly poetry can do that. It also evokes other emotions the heart will know as well. As survivors of trauma we carry a great many feelings difficult to express. This is painfully wonderful Darren.
 
Yeah, read between the lines :)
For all of us, this is important because one way or the other we were all silenced.
 
Until we're ready to speak...
 
incomprehensible letters
which others cannot see
as language

Your entire poem is powerful. I relate to its full message as I understand it. However, the quote above from the last part of your 2nd stanza struck me to the core. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard, my own words included, someone so precisely express my experience when I tried to express myself on this subject. You are right, it is, like a foreign language even within one’s own tribe.

Well written well stated. Thank you.
 
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