The Speaker, Silent

Photo by&#160;<a href="https://unsplash.com/@mkrisanova?utm_source=medium&#38;utm_medium=referral">Maria Krisanova</a>&#160;on&#160;<a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&#38;utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a><br/><br/>after Laurie Halse Anderson<br/><br/>Her silence is a virtue, so they saywith hands that cover mouth and words and breathawake and sleeping. Should she bite todayor is she best left bleeding? Little deathsnow crawl within and take over her skinan hour or a month. She blinks her eyes,pretends that there&#8217;s a person past the sin,regret becomes her middle name,&#160;the liesbecome a sterling shield until they foldlike tissue paper in a child&#8217;s hand&#160;&#8212;when every pretense fails she must be boldor else she shatters, statue made of sandand trauma. Silence ever breaks her bonesand steals away the moments that she owns. <br/><br/>Get full access to Sonnets &c. at <a href="https://zjppoetry.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast">zjppoetry.substack.com/subscribe</a>