Here is my submission for this month’s theme! It’s a little free verse poem.

Is it easy to stay silent?

well, the girl thinks so, honestly –

she reminisces on all the times words and responses erupted from her mouth like vomit

caused brows to crease, and mouths to turn down

a simple word, a simple phrase

said without even thinking, as most things were

and somehow someone cried, or someone yelled, or someone shrieked

and what had she done wrong other than spoken?

Is it easy to stay silent?

well, what else can she really do?

words come out better on paper or on a computer

than they ever can in real life

and words are a weapon, no one can deny that

they stab and shoot and can break a heart

they deceive and believe and weave tapestries

and crush the strongest of shells within their gently-laced fingertips.

Is it easy to stay silent?

her heart pangs when she hears

the stutter at the beginning of a sentence she says, hot sweat beading on her back

the high, whiny way her voice grates on her ears

the people telling her “no”…

it’s funny, because no, in all its subtleties, is something

she’s been hearing more and more often.

Is it easy to stay silent?

and even now, as she writes,

she wonders how many words are truth, and how many are but a lie

then decides it doesn’t matter, as what does, really?

because lies can crush too

lies can light gas

lies can burn

and right now, she doesn’t know if

she’s making people burn.

Is it easy to stay silent?

yes, yes it is

because spoken words can be multitudinal forms of offense

but written words can be changed

and written words can be renewed

while spoken words are once and for all

permanent,

like how if one says the word “Fire!” in a crowded movie theater

they can cause people to get mercilessly trampled upon

in their haste for escape,

with no way of taking it back.

Yes, with spoken words,

there is no way of taking them back.

But is it easy to stay silent?

silence means holding your emotions together

suppressing yourself,

pretending you can’t listen

when in all honesty, your heart is burning

and your hands are shaking

and no one hears you inside.