Unspoken Truths

We sit side by side four walls closing in,
investing emotions in silent conversations,
not stocks or dividends.
Just fault, nameless issues
and truths we can’t speak.
It seems that
we’ve lost touch,
we’ve lost reach.

Kind of like an unexpected disaster
or breach of contract when we don’t
know what’s next and dare not imagine
the day after when the tension fills the air.
Yet I feel you don’t care and you feel my
baggage is crowding your space,
but we’ve remained silent so long that the
space between us has now extended into miles.
The distance has caused me to raise my voice
because you’re not listening to me.
Seems you only listen when my voice appears to wear a smile.
Getting restless, you leave the room for a while.
Suppressing what’s to come next.
Silent conversations leave me exhausted and breathless.

Tired of smiling when I want to scream,
can’t find words to say what I mean.
Tried to focus but everything has become a
distraction and my reaction to your lack of
compassion is to express my distress and
not care what comes after.
Piecing my feelings together,
but I’m biting my tongue just to keep us together,
but trust me when I say I want to make it last forever.

Faded pictures, broken glass shatters,
nothing even matters, gave so much of
me that I feel scattered and abated.
Tongue tired, verbally frustrated and
I hate that I look at us and feel we have not yet made it.
Bottling up frustration, losing variation when
words contain no inspiration and now the
desperation has set in, welcomed itself as my friend.
And you know misery loves company so he invited
depression on in.
Not knowing what else to do I welcomed them both,
and their growth in me increased and I began losing sleep.
Depression was always knocking at my door wanting
more and desperation well he never left,
kicked his shoes off, laid up on my couch and this
negro even made himself breakfast.

Yet we still sit side by side, four walls closing in,
investing emotions in silent conversations,
not stocks or dividends.
Just fault, nameless issues, and truths we can’t speak.
Yet, when I write then recite this piece,
you don’t take heed to what you’ve just heard.
You’ll instead believe these are just pronouns,
metaphors, and verbs for yet another poem
that I decided to write after one of our silent fights.

I hope you were entertained.

Nicole Williams 09'