the story
i believe language creates reality
a conclusion which i have reached
after learning that solitary isolation
would drive anyone crazy. we need words
not to describe the world around us
but to create something real which we can share.
i created our love with five people,
singing along to rhett miller:
our love
became our love
by name
when i wrote it to you
in a song
explaing to a friend the trust and comfort:
can i tell you something?
and you’re not gonna tell him everything?
cos i need to wait for him.
to say it you know
i love him, though
i’m sure of it.
expressing the frustration of your infidelity over the phone:
i love him.
followed by a shocked pause.
and then,
i mean,
i’m falling in love with
him
or i do
but don’t let that get out
i mean
i don’t tell him that yet even
before your arrival at our table:
i just wish i could acknowledge it
it would make it so much easier
if i had the word to say
or if i just knew and didn’t have to doubt
i guess we spoke of love
in the soft noises
which lovers utter loudly
and we knew it was truth
because we saw it
so the look of surprise
which decorated both of our faces
as one single correction
of a statement in past tense
and we stopped
in the middle of my soliloquy
to sigh in the wake of such honesty