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.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

THE QUITTER

It must be really hard being you
Sitting still
No ambition
Not being able to see anything through to fruition
Who told you you can't want more
So much pain
So much self doubt
Not being able to feel
Cold to the feelings of others
Being "content" doing nothing special
Who hurt you
You give up before you even start
Grad School because....well, you know
Pets...endless pets...procure...give away...
Unwilling to see your own gifts
Thinking that it's boastful to think positively about yourself
Full of ego to acknowledge your own assets
So why was I surprised when the day came that you quit me?
I had let my guard down
Taken a risk
Was I too hard?
Too much work?
You were
I loved you anyway
Were you bored with me?
I was with you sometimes
I hoped it would get better
Did you find someone better?
Who knows?
I don't
No explanation given
A cowards way out
Not brave
Weak
People who quit before they try are afraid of living
Aren't you ravenous for more?
This proclivity for giving up on people, pets, jobs, school, etc...creates more drama and loss than just committing & opening up
It had been there all along
This shutting down
It always nagged at me
This inability to grow
This stagnant stifled existence
The Quitter