Poet’s Corner Cafe: The Stillness of My Sorrow

It’s been a while since I’ve invited y’all to stop by the Poet’s Corner Cafe for some real knowledge exploration in the form of spoken word. So have a seat and come with me on this journey into grief by way of denial. Hope it speaks to you.

 

The Stillness of My Sorrow

 

I’m afraid to sit in the stillness of my sorrow

So I distance myself by using intellect to examine emotions

Posing questions with a philosopher’s practiced detachment

 

I’m afraid to sit in the stillness of my sorrow

Heart pounding with the fear of confronting truth

So I tuck my sorrow under my rib cage behind my heart

Where it presses into my back and prods me to say ‘Yes’

When a ‘No’ or ‘Not yet’ would be most beneficial

It pushes me to DO more

So I don’t have to BE more

 

I’m afraid to sit in the stillness of my sorrow

So I distract myself with pretty phrases manipulating words

Making art out of denial and self-preservation

 

I’m afraid to sit in the stillness of my sorrow

My shoulders tensely hunched and touching my ears

So I do not exhale

Don’t unclench my teeth

Because then the cracks will show

The sorrow will flood out

The broken pieces of me scattered and

I’ll have to begin the process of being made

Into someone new

 

I’m afraid to sit in the stillness of my sorrow

Because then there’s work to do

How do you cope with grief? Is denial something you use to make it through? 

Photo credit: Megyarsh / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Photo credit: Thomas Hawk / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Advertisement