Behind closed eyelids

 I wrote this recently for a couple of reasons. 1) I was sick & tired of being sick & tired of not being able to talk. I’ve been sick for what seems like forever (when really I think it’s only been like two and a half weeks). Which, in my defense, is a really long time because I hardly ever get sick. 2) I’ve been writing a lot lately & recently I’ve been feeling like  I want to perform a little more. Sometimes I miss the mic, & sometimes I don’t. 3) My friend Maury & I always seem to end up in  these random conversations with other “poets” who think that writing always has to be deep or heavy, when really it can be silly & outrageous & just plan fun to do. You don’t have to memorize the poems that you write in order to be a good writer. It’s ok if you read from paper.

R.I.F, byches

Sidenote: For those who where not 80’s babies & didn’t go to elementary during that time, R.I.F. stands for: Reading Is FUNdemental.

W hen I wrote this I had a thought to let one of my friends read it for me while I say it in sign language. I thought it would be fun to do, but since my voice is returning I’m just gonna post it.

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I have lost my voice.
No, really.

This is not some poetic metaphor
fashioned from lost ambition
or creative mental blocks.

I haven’t taken a vow of silence
like monks or nuns.
One, it’s too cold in Tibet &
two, I could never be chaste
or celibate.

My voice is really gone.

Somewhere between the 92 hour work week
and the random social recreations,
my larynx that houses my vocal chords,
normall titillating with it’s vibrating machinations
has turned to timbre.
Kindling for the past two weeks.

My esophagus feels as though
I’ve been swallowing cups full
of jagged glass.

No, it’s not strep, it’s not contagious.

I’ve done everything I could think of
to speed along this healing process.
Listened to everyone from MaG to Nanee.

Home remedies: “Gargle hydrogen peroxide
every 30 minutes”. To prescriptions,
take two blue pills twice a day
for 10 days

I’ve drunk so much tea,lemon, & honey
that if you dunked me into warm water
for 15 minutes, you could drink me

Sucked so many cough drops
my sinuses are singing
Ricolla

So it forces me to use other outlets
to express myself
Using interpreters to verbally translate
what my hands say just in case
my fingers are forming the words to fast.

Cuz see, I kinda handy with my fives.

Or so I’ll have to be until my voice decides
it’s rested enough to resurface& come back home.

Thank you.