38 When you are next to me, when you have tuned To every word I'm telling -- not to you, To every breath of mine that comes with words, To every shift of eyes, to every tone, Before I even speak, I am too loud -- You catch my words before they are pronounced. You hold my hidden gulp of folded lips -- My words are huge; it's difficult to speak. When not to you I'm telling every word, To you I'm tuned, I shift, to you I talk.







Previous

IRENE CÆSAR
Confined Verse
Collected Poems

Next