the poems i write

the poems
i write
are ways
to say
things
with
out
say
ing
things,
ways
to gray
things
and
rest
wings.

they shed
dark
on what
seems light;
red
marks
on essays
white;
they are
faces
where
smiles
are sighs,
places
where
trials
are lies.

i can’t
say
straight out
i want
to
fade out,
so i
write
lines
in verse,
short
and
terse
(as if
coughing
stiff).

the poems
i write
are ways
to say
things
with
out
playing
nor
praying.

forgive me
(but there
is no
other way).





--by Troy Cady