SILENCE
by Margaret Saine
“I have invented a new genre, that of silence.”
– Isaac Babel
I notice only today
how much I need words
rarely am I able
to do without them;
they once were a cradle
now they are a safety net
under the trapeze
I hardly smile
without words
and rarely a smile
is followed
by a full-stop
contented silence
without a lasting fermata
and then more words
Yet how many silences
hide between words
and howl in the wilderness?
How many poems
named Silence
can a person write until
overwhelmed by words
she shipwrecks into a mute void?
—–
Margaret Saine writes poetry and fiction, translating poets who write in five other languages. Her books are “Bodyscapes,” “Words of Art,” and five haiku chapbooks. Other mss. ready to be published are “The Five Senses: 100 Erotic Poems in Alphabetical Order,” “Reading Your Lips,” “Toutes les rivières,” “Paesaggi che respirano–Breathing Landscapes,”and a book of aphorisms.
