Thank you to Mark Antony Rossi for publishing my poem in the March issue of Ariel Chart.

https://www.arielchart.com/2024/03/the-fluency-of-unmuffled-words.html

The Fluency of Unmuffled Words

 

Like chrysalism,

that amniotic tranquility felt indoors 

during the eerie tension of a t-storm,

 

ugly words become

muffled words, 

like upstairs arguments, 

or those in a next-door hotel room or apartment

because even white noise is never silent.

 

There are not enough words for

what we really need to communicate to each other,

amid the great profusion of claps

that could potentially break fragile thoughts.

 

Know that as we repaint the air 

with the true colors of tenderness,

we will recover the smooth form of our nerves 

after the release of anxiety,

will rebuild the once waning strength of our angst.

 

And the fluency of our unmuffled words

will help us both

love the beauty and/of the dark.