when said aloud

arqios

 

"when said aloud"

 

 

I meant to speak plainly. To let the thought go unbuttoned, 

leaned against a kitchen chair, talking about traffic 

or the way light hits the linoleum.

 

But then—I rhymed. 

By accident or reflex or loneliness.

 

It was you that made me do it— 

not out of guilt, but because the sentence curled 

toward music, and I didn’t stop it.

 

You rolled your eyes. I apologised. 

And still the phrases rang like pewter spoons.

 

There’s something in me that keeps folding 

speech into couplets, as if silence 

might forgive it easier when dressed in echo.

 

So no—I wasn’t trying to impress you. 

I was just afraid the truth, unmetered, 

might sound too sharp when said aloud.

 

 

 

 

.

Comments +

Comments7

  • nephilim56 ( Norman Dickson)

    much enjoyed

  • sorenbarrett

    A lovely write my friend of the natural way of a poet that can not help but speak as well as write in verse and rhyme. So softly spun where the mind and tongue flow in harmony playing melodies in a symphony.

    • Doggerel Dave

      Since I can speak far too plainly at times (no mediator between brain and tongue) any strategy might help. This should not diminish the mood you create there as your piece is only tangentially about the surface conversation, right?

      • arqios

        Yup, and I blame it all on convention . Thanks my friend 🙏🏻🕊️

        • arqios

          @Soren - The rhyme is indeed a lasting and quite ’visible’ pillar of poetry. Thanks my friend 🙏🏻🕊️

          • sorenbarrett

            You are always most welcome Cryptic

          • orchidee

            How? Why? When? did I make you do it?! lol. Do shut up, Orchi, says Fido. lol.

            • arqios

              unelementary, dear watsoff 🙃🤣🕵️‍♂️

              • orchidee

                Sherlock has Watson, I have Fido! lol. Well, he solves more cases than I do.

                • arqios

                  Hats off to an excellent partnership 🤠

                • Tristan Robert Lange

                  My friend, what struck me most is the tension between ordinary speech and poetry. The poem begins in the everyday world of kitchen chairs, traffic, and linoleum, then slowly reveals a speaker who cannot help hearing music inside language. By the time you arrive at that final admission about truth and meter, the whole poem clicks into place. Beautifully crafted and deeply relatable. 🌹🖤🙏🕯️🐦‍⬛

                  • arqios

                    Sometimes both worlds and their extremes are one and the same! Now there's a theme and a process that could be further explored in probably infinite ways.🙏🕊️

                  • Kevin Hulme

                    A good Write about the Need for Poetic expression.

                    • arqios

                      The need to bleed, oh the bleeding drops of red, frozen cold and dead 🕊️🙏

                    • Friendship

                      nicely done

                      • arqios

                        Thanks Friendship for the like and the fave🙏🕊️

                      • Goldfinch60

                        Fine words Rik.

                        Andy

                        • arqios

                          Thanks Andy 🙏🏻🕊️



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