Repeat

Why are you saying 

what has already been said 

(truth being told 

everything has been said before) 

Yet, here we find ourselves 

the poetry spewing lot of us 

rehashing and rewriting 

thoughts and emotions

We prattle on about love 

and it’s endless pain or virtue 

while there are volumes written 

expressing every facet and angle 

We twaddle time and again 

about our private grief 

trying to find the depth 

or an imaginary cure 

Whether joyously or sorrowful 

we dredge our words through 

we spill them out across paper 

we share them everywhere 

Here’s the unending part 

non-writers never seem to grasp 

there is no stopping the spilling words 

from a wounded or overflowing heart 

It really doesn’t matter 

if these words have been spoken

we need to speak them 

we must release their power over us 

We never really own words 

they always own us 

except for those brief moments 

we repeat and free ourselves from them 

This temporary reprieve 

gives us opportunity to breathe 

until the words once more

begin to ensnare and bind us 

Why am I saying 

what has already been said 

herein is my extrication 

the work of disentangling 

Repeat 

Release 

Breath 

Repeat 

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

July 15, 2021