Phases

Free Verse Poem by Anne Marie Mikusinski

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1.

We write.
For an outlet
A barbed wire connection
Ignited by the rasp
Of an impulse against emotion’s
Sandpaper matchbox strip
A noisy reveal of words
Or music
Flashing briefly
Burning one
Or many
All protection lost
In complete vulnerability
Consequences be damned,
We write.

2.

We write
For something to do
To forget
And remember
What may be lost
Otherwise
To protect
To preserve
One or many
Fragile things
To make them stop
To make them
Stay.
We write.

3.

We write
To put on paper
Things we can’t say
Words we
Shouldn’t
Utter for fear
That once spoken
They can’t be
Retracted
Unfelt or undone
So to avoid all harm
We write.

4.

We write
To begin
To move towards resolution
To explain an ending
That would dissolve in tears 
If spoken
To say hello
To bid farewell
And start again
Describing a new path
We write.

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Anne Mikusinski has always been in love with words. She’s been writing poems and short stories since she was seven. Her influences range from Robert Frost and Dylan Thomas to David Byrne and Nick Cave. She hopes that one day, some of her writing will impress others the way these writers have had an impact on her.