Feelings vs. Words

free-verse

these feelings inside

run deeper than blood and bone

deeper than the deepest chasm

deeper than the deepest ocean

deeper than all my cuts & scars combined

 

but the words i try to use to describe them

are shallow as a puddle in the road

shallow as a goldfish memory

shallow as a saucer of milk

shallow as the airheaded preps that  have always

& will always call me names

 

the words are too flat & thin & flimsy

like a sheet of paper

that flies away on the slightest breeze

they are too ordinary & plain

like stark white walls in a cookie-cutter

subdivision house exactly the same as its neighbors

 

my pillow is soaked through & through

like a limp form dragged from a watery grave

but the paper is dry

as a desert in August that never has rain

the words i try to use aren't enough

 

you wouldn't understand unless

you saw me at my weakest

when it finally catches up to me & right before

i pull myself together

 

but you never will

i cannot & will not allow anyone to see

that moment when i cannot fool myself any longer

i have to fool myself

and to do that

i must fool everyone

 

so you cannot see that moment

& i guess these shallow poems

are it

 

& no one understands

 

 

Reviews

[Antonio Valentino]

How surprised I am that no one has reviewed this, oh well, what do they know? Tru, this was brilliant. I wouldn't say this unless I absolutely meant it, but I heard Neruda himself talking some of these verses if not the whole poem. This was amazing, and should be kept and studied for its true artistry.

Antonio