MISSION STATEMENT

SILENT VOICES SPEAK started out as Silent Voices: A Writer’s Workshop, as the first group at the drop-in center at the Broadway location of Community Counseling Centers of Chicago, whose purpose is to empower it’s attendees to form and attend their own groups.

We have branched out as an independent entity. We are silent no more. We say yes to the creative possibilities of life & art...

The mission of SILENT VOICES SPEAK is to give a voice to people who are disenfranchised. Many of the participants in SILENT VOICES SPEAK are also visual and/or performing artists.

Membership is open to all.
Send submissions to lizhipwell@gmail.com.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

THE TEN MOST UGLY WORDS by Beth Polelle

          The ten most ugly words to me are: hate, ugly, stupid, unloved, not worthy, deceived, liar, unable, not likely, and pessimistic. They, (all these words) sound very depressing to me. Every time I think of these words I feel so trapped. It only makes things worse. I try to stay away from those words. It's not healthy, and if you keep repeating words that are ugly, it's harder to change them.
          A person can really believe these words, and not only does the person feel bad, it does make the person who is listening upset. So, every bad word a person thinks should be replaced by a good one. No one should have to think these words and no one should have to listen. No one can make a person stop thinking or saying ugly words.
          Maybe with more understanding of ourselves we can stop using ugly word.
-Beth Polelle

LOVE by Larry O.

Oh that I did rue
Your heart in grasping time
Oh that you never knew
The reason for my rhyme
The trees were filled with leaves
Before the summer time
The flowers all had bees
My drink was lemon-lime
I waited for the time to pass
Hoping I would see you again
Will you come to me at last?
I'm sitting here on the fence
Waiting for time to pass
Thinking of what we once had
Thinking of reasons and rhyme
Aware of longing so bad
Thinking of all the times
We thought of the love we had
How special it seemed to us then
I'm waiting for the time
When we'll see each other again
Did it mean the same to you
As what it meant to me?
I looked in all their eyes
None of them see what we see
Someday we'll finally know
What we have longed to be
I hope that time will show
What then we'll allow to be
Sometime the love we share 
At last will set us free
-Larry O.