I, Star

Sometimes words quiver

and letters tumble free

like bouncing dice

or clattering teeth

spelling ‘disaster’

or ‘numb’

or

 

In an empty house

sounds carry,

collect like cobwebs

in dusty corners

under warped

floorboards

or

 

I am a silent letter

No, I am a tangle

of silent letters

hooked in

flesh

or

 

I am that tree that

falls in the forest

and no one

is around

to hear

or

 

I am a lone electron

orbiting an empty

shell of

dust

or

 

…

 

I can demand more of myself

than wallowing in self-pity

or recursive self-denial.

 

I will not let myself be silenced

there is too much to say

to a crumbling world

 

too much to build and rebuild

connections to make

in the web of the universe

 

silence is only empty if

we let letters carry

no sound value

 

In the emptiness of space

I choose to be a star and

my language is radiance.

 

​

- Charles Fischer