Olivia Williams Poet Free verse

Silence or Salt

The face of my nightmares hiding in the darkest shadows of my mind
With distance you have started to fade and fall in ranks
Following years of comfort, I am forced to look at my fears in the light
Veil to veil, I feel my temperature rise along with my rage
Living in silence will never be able to fully heal a laceration like this
Positioned in the flames my skin screams and my lungs sing in tune

I swam the length of oceans just to receive puddles in your trail
I cried to gods I had no faith in as a pathetic attempt for asylum
I let you mold me in your image, yet it was not enough
I made your crimes against me seem like petty theft
I acted as if your words were the law and the lies made sense
I begged for a mercy you had no intention on giving me
I manufactured a world where your actions were poetic
I watched as you picked me apart brick by brick by brick effortlessly
I allowed your calculated manipulation to be seen as misunderstandings
I lied to the embers to keep them from burning you alive
I deemed myself insane for the way my mind worked around the madness
I gave everything and still I fell short of holding even a small place in your mind
 
Eyes heavy and fixated on mine, your voice echoing in my ears

You may take this with a grain of salt, but you have to know I’m sorry
You consume my thoughts in every way and losing you is my biggest regret 

And yet both our lips were sealed

And you had no remorse

My strength to scream was lost in midnight tears and haunted days
Crowd pushing through, two paths arise, shout or shush
Biting my tongue, I swallow my spiel and let the space grow
Replacing a bled through bandage is easier than getting new stitches
Silence might not heal cuts, but neither will salt

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Beata Agustin October 7, 2026 at 8:30 PM Thanks for sharing this... exposing your thoughts through your unique poetic style. Welcome to Poetry Soup. I welcome you with the love of the Lord, expressed by John 3:16 of the Bible, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Be blessed.

Alison A Smith October 4, 2026 at 12:19 AM This is a raw, affecting free-verse poem that gives silence and salt a compelling double meaning: both become inadequate responses to deep injury. The accumulating anaphora of “I” statements powerfully conveys the speaker’s self-erasure and endurance, while the later shifts into direct quotation and clipped final lines bring the emotional reckoning sharply into focus. The imagery of lacerations, embers, oceans, bricks, and midnight tears builds a visceral landscape of betrayal, and the ending lands with quiet force: neither suppression nor bitterness can truly mend what was done.