Swallow

words
are everywhere

every now and then
I hear the most
worthless of tongues
hurl fancy phrases and words
at their beloved

meaning, you see
is rare

you have journeyed
to the moon and back
without ever knowing that my heart
lies not amongst the stars
but amidst the roots of the
wildflowers in my backyard

your love was nothing
but hollowness

your love was nothing
but a hard pill to swallow

and it's today that I understand
what people meant
when they said
you can't swallow and breathe
at the same time

Reviews

[chrysantheranium]

Beautiful work! I love that your ability to call out against shallow love has more meaning than the words used to represent that feeling itself. Really hits the nail on the head on how not every positive thing can be truly positive, or have more meaning than the potentially-negative side.

I absolutely adored these lines:
"without ever knowing that my heart / lies not amongst the stars / but amidst the roots of the wildflowers in my backyard"

"you can't swallow and breathe / at the same time"

Wonderfully paced, and a pleasure to read. Thank you for another beautiful addition, Zoya!

[Zoya]

You're amazing! Thank you so so much, it's been a treat reading your reviews :))

[barleygirl]

After reading this, I get the feeling I want to ponder all the different ways this message can apply to life. "Words are everywhere . . . meaning is rare" -- this reminds me of how some people blather constantly on social media, whereas some only say something when there's something meaningful to be said. The odd thing is that those who blather are often most "popular" while those who are thoughtful are barely noticed by others. I love the way your words sound together -- like "hollow" and "swallow" -- leading up to an ending that could be pondered for days. What does it mean? It's not obvious to me right away, but there are so many possibilities, I won't get started on it! This poem seems to be about some other significant person, but it applies to people in general! (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Pragati Chaudhary]

Lovely lines and with a ease!
THankyou!

[Zoya]

Haha thank you, Pragati! :)

[wordman]

your mouth can cause a lot of emotions,it can be sweet or bitter

[Zoya]

Thank you wordman :-))

[wordman]

you`re welcome

[emipoemi]

"nothing" and "hollowness" essentially mean the same thing, so here's my suggestion: play with that. The "but" in the following stanza I see is echoing the "but" in this one, but that "but" is but as hollow as the hollowness that precedes it. Play with the nothing/hollowness pair and then by extension maybe play with the hard pill to swallow a tad without revealing the juicy genius of the last stanza. Because this has juicy genius to the freaking core, girl! An absolute marvel! Well freaking done!

[Zoya]

I agree with what you've said, the end came too early. Thank you so much, emi. Appreciate the time :)

[emipoemi]

I wasn't exactly implying the end cam too early, there were just some things that needed to be tweaked in order to flow better. The ending ties everything up nicely.

[Zoya]

...Got it :)