Tears of Anguish

A whisper away
on the quiet of day
An unbroken silence,
A lengthy defiance
Of space and of time,
Of song and of rhyme
A melody's delight,
Of torment and fright
Washing the skies
Acid Blue.

My sophomore year of high school I met a fellow newbie (we both had transferred from other schools) named Kelley Barrieault, also known as Yellek Barry. She wrote poetry. I didn't think normal, regular, everyday people wrote poetry, and I certainly didn't think that people living in the 20th century wrote poetry. Songs, yes. Poems, no. Kelley was the one that told me I should write. She convinced me that I had something to say and that I should express it. The above piece is one that Kelley wrote and it often plays over and over in my mind as I leave dream land and re-enter the waking world. It has such comforting, beautiful rhythm and I love the simplicity and movement. Normally I find rhyming poems childish and irritating, but this piece dances. By the end of 1992, Kelley's mum remarried and they moved to Winter Park, Florida. After graduation, our letter writing slowed then ceased altogether. I still wonder if she still writes...