WHOLE by Alise Versella

My second poetry book, Onion Heart was very personal to write...

I go back and reread these poems and I’m taken back to another life, I was a different person. It’s funny how someone can do that to you, take what you thought you knew and shred it. 

But through these words often dark, I came out on the other side of that tunnel and into the light. I reclaimed the broken bits of myself. And that’s what I love about this poem, no matter the pain another can cause you, the heart bounces back. You bounce back. However broken you become you are still capable of being whole.

Whole

It only hurts if I let it

If I suffer silently soon this too will pass

And from my pain the aftermath is always beauty

From my pain come a million and one lightning bugs

Sparkling like stars spread out against the night

I only feel the hunger until I let it subside

My desire stemming from loneliness

My passion whips around like a fire

Out of control

Come appease it just to tease it

Form the clay to fit inside your mold

Until the edges bleed out

Fix the cracks

And peeling plaster

Cover the holes with spackle

It will only kill me if I let it

But it doesn't

So I am stronger

These ghosts can't haunt me if I don't believe

Don't believe in your nightmares

I run but not from monsters

Not from the past

I run not to keep the pace with others

I run but not away

I run only to see how far

I can get before there's nowhere left to go

I breathe to fill my lungs

Not to bring you back to life

So my ribcage walls cannot come down

Unless I let them fall

This body will only break if I let you snap the bones

And since you have taken no more

Than my heart

It's apparent that I can never fall apart.

(Originally published in 'Onion Heart' by Alise Versella)

Alise Versella:  I am a 24 year old poet living in the pinelands of New Jersey. Poetry has always been the ether in my veins and the oxygen I breathe. It is my Five Foot Voice, my Onion Heart, I am peeling back the layers of myself like a lotus unfurling its petals in order to grow fully in the waters that can sometimes weigh us down. I’m writing poetry to find myself, I’m writing poetry to save the world. My hope it that my poetry saves someone’s world from crumbling because I believe art has the power to hold us up when we can’t find the legs to stand. You can visit me at my Facebook page here or on my website here.

~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~