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.

Monday, January 19, 2015

LOVE IS (Revised) by Elizabeth Hipwell

Love is...
Confounding
(You broke up with me by text message and by phone)
Surprising
(You never even faced me in person
You were that weak)
Disappointing
(You took the pets away when I wasn't home, not letting me even say goodbye to them
One can be invested in a person who is not worth it)
And sometimes makes no sense
It cannot be planned 
It creeps up on you
And is often 
Far from what the fairy tales tell us
(Often one-sided, 
You did say you hadn't wanted to be there for me when I had my TWO surgeries,
Even though I was there for you through all SIX of your hospitalizations, ECT and other medical appointments and your strep throat ER visit
Chock full of betrayal and emotional rape)
It's like a twisted vine that curls infinitely
Caressing with tenderness
Infiltrating with it's sharp thorns and idiosyncrasies
As I get to know loves curves,
Cubbyholes and corridors
It can be overwhelming
Its many hidden passageways
Lead to unknown territory
It grows in unexpected directions
Which cannot be foreseen or controlled
(I wish I had foreseen the sociopaths lack of love  
The person who is the subject of this poem)
Love sees the imperfections
Relishes them
(Naively overlooks them because hope springs eternal)
Accepts them
Celebrates them
Love is confusing and scary
A risk
(One that was a waste of my time & love) 
I often want to scoot away from it
(Why didn't I listen to that voice that said, "She is bad news and all about herself." )
Avoid it
Put on the pounds to keep it at bay
Protect myself from the inevitable hurt
(You know, I am happy with who I am now. 
The pain is just too much to bear.) 
Then why do I get giddy at its possibility?
(Because I am too trusting.
I'm a stupid romantic)
Someones eyes
Really seeing them
(Who knows if that's the real person) 
Them really seeing me
(She never really saw me after all 
just what I could do for her)
Trusting them
(What a mistake that was) 
Trusting me
Love makes it hard to think straight and maintain my autonomy
(I wasn't too good at that) 
Loosen the control
Let down the armor
Let in the messiness of love...
(Maybe not. Maybe not in the foreseeable future.
She was not worthwhile)
-Elizabeth Hipwell

1 comment:

  1. I really liked the descriptive words for love is: confounding and surprising, I'd like to see this poem without the light print, and the light print without the dark. I suspect you have two powerful poems that say different things.

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