Head Up
by Manon Voice
by Manon Voice
... shoulders
back.
Don’t
tell them how you struggled to get out of the book laden bed
impoverished
with broken poetry hooks
ringing
over your head
a
quarter widowed wine glass
you
took with an antidepressant and the taste of your own salt.
How
you fed the dog and didn’t yourself.
How
you barely breathed in the shower
And
clothed yourself in war black because it was easiest to hide in.
On
the way
there
was no song somber or sultry
enough
for the trip, everyday
how
you survive the loneliness of the driver side
the
overwhelm of that
much control between the breadth of your hands.
Don’t
tell them how you count miles as the making of a life and numbers
grow
on you slowly edging you out of risk.
Don’t
ask yourself
“Where
have you been?”
after
all the “good mornings” and dirt coffee taken with emails.
No
one after noticed how your legs hang from the desk chair
nor
ever touch the floor,
as
if you weren’t here or home or never meant to be, anyway.
Manon
Voice
is a native of Indianapolis and is a poet, spoken word artist,
freelance writer, hip-hop emcee and social justice activist. She
seeks to use her art and activism to create a communal space where
dialogue, transformation, discovery and inspiration can occur.