SpEaK

SpEaK.
don't shut up.

SpEaK.
not to raise a hue and cry
over something
that stamped things out,
SpEaK.
not to smirk at a world
that silenced you
and many others like you,
SpEaK.
not because you've been
a gentle lamb among wolves,
hiding in a skin
you knew
didn't hold all of you,
SpEaK.
not to shatter mirrors,
or still the river,
not to shift the earth,
or climb unreachable depths,
not to break through
the hymens of opinion,
or to burst those fragile bubbles
of glassy comforts.

SpEaK.
not for the heck of it,
not because you love the edge,
not because it gives you a high,
not because you've been mired in a low,
not because you were mummified
into a history you were forced to live,
not so you can balloon yourself
into a skin you dreamed to own,
and not because you have a beautiful voice.

SpEaK.
don't shut up.

SpEaK.
because something in you
stirs you out of your womb,
into your first cry,
heralding a new world,
SpEaK.
because you want to,
because you are you,
in all your glory and fury,
SpEaK.
for the family you grow
inside you,
SpEaK.
from the eye of the whirlwind
that feels it all, sees it all,
and still remains untouched,
SpEaK.
from that burning core,
engulfed by churning waters
that remember the unforgettable,
SpEaK.
without fear or favour
or a longing for fame,
giving it all away,
to what guides you
to move your tongue
and feel your teeth,
SpEaK.
to hear yourself thunder
through that roaring silence,
holding back its claws,
SpEaK.
to re-imagine a world
where rainbows appear at will,
holding you in their curl,
even as you stand alone
in your own shadow,
in your own light.

SpEaK.
don't shut up.
but for heaven's sake,
first listen.


SpEaK....spoken poetry