Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Silent Screaming

Why don’t you just scream?
Scream if you have to.
Scream and prove you are still alive.


Your silence stifles me,

leaves me hanging,
grasping old photographs,
bitter and mute.

Looking like
the angry one to your unaffected eyes.

Smiling your deception at me
cause you’re just fine.

Fine.
Fine.
Fine.


It’s either fable or truth
and that’s based on your perception.


You who is

so happy to live your happy
little lie.


While
silently I feel us die.

I am figthing for love

but you can’t be bothered to
decide
if you even
have a thing left to say.

You move through this play
we are now pretending is
Our Good Life
like the man you think you should be.

Some picture you saw once in a magazine.
Stiff upper lip, tense manly pride.

Does that leave you satisfied?

It leaves me lacking,
after years apart from you
while you were standing right here

two feet away in our cozy kitchen

cooking up

heart hardening lies.


Words unspoken still sting.

I’ve heard everything you never said to me.
I’d rather that you would just open your mouth and


scream.



Note-

My work process for the poem posted above. It is a creation born from Patchwork Poetry.

First I found a line at Words that Sing. That inspired the whole poem. I then looked through the other poems donated and found more lines I could fit it. i was very tempted to change one word in one line but that is against the rules. Can you guess which word.

Anyway,the picture of this battle weary, stony couple formed in my mind as I wrote out the wife's inner duel between anger and anguish.

Thanks to lirone, scott, jillypoet, mariacristina and paisley for donating lines.

13 comments:

paisley said...

sometimes the soul screams louder than anything we humans can imagine hearing with our ears... i really enjoyed this....

Anonymous said...

S,

I love your poem. So many different types of relationships between women and men could apply here. A father and daughter or a couple.

You seal the poem in a wonderful way with these lines:

two feet away in our cozy kitchen

cooking up

heart hardening lies.

I haven't read the donated poems yet. I'll probably work on it tomorrow.

Thanks for your comments about Song of Knitting. I fel honored to have a line from that poem included in your new original.

lissa said...

I love how you make use of every line count. her emotions are so evident by your words. great poem. I might even try out this patchwork thing.

Anonymous said...

Your poems are so full of emotion and fragile, but they still have a swagger about them.

Nice one again. Great pulse.

STP said...

Very strong piece. One could feel the frustration flying off the screen.

"I’ve heard everything you never said to me.
I’d rather that you would just open your mouth and


scream."

I love that close!!!

M. Morris Gaman said...

I enjoyed this very much. Every line was worth it for the last four.

I think I must try my hand at Patchwork Poetry.

Anonymous said...

A very telling poem that I'm honoured to have contributed a line to!

It's really interesting for me to see how the stifling silence is different in your poem.

The silence I wrote about was something I was very passive about at the time. Whereas what I really like about your poem is that there is so much more action and a sort of positive angry energy.

I feel your protagonist is either speaking those words and expressing her frustration, or at any rate will do something about her frustration soon! And more power to her too!

That's where the "fighting for love" line fits in so well - it's is a very powerful line, and one I've based my own patchwork poem around.

Anna said...

I’ve heard everything you never said to me.
I’d rather that you would just open your mouth and


scream.

I like that part

Anonymous said...

"I’ve heard everything you never said to me" is the killer line in this poem for me, Sarah. Brill!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it amazing that almost all of us pick the same lines?

I love it. It has different nuances for me with each read.

jumping from the cliff to prove my love?

jillypoet said...

"two feet away in our cozy kitchen
cooking up
heart hardening lies"

is a strong visual image (as well as, of course, emotional).

Marie said...

Strong and emotional. Really felt the frustration.

Rob Kistner said...

"I’ve heard everything you never said to me."

Wow - that resonates loudly for me. This is a striking bit of writing, honest and unpretentious... quite excellent!

I enjoyed visiting your blog. I'm off into cyber space, but I look forward to returning... ;)