Everything I write, I write for you
Words the only voice my siren soul can find
Written pictures, ink-trapped tears
Longing bound in rhyme and meter
Cosmology of metaphors
To hold the formless up to sight
I write so I can know myself
I sing so you might find me

If the garden of my soul
Grows black and silver flowers
It’s because the nights are long here
Alone, alone, alone
I shine a light into myself
To manifest a meaning
I write so I can hold my pain
I sing so you might witness

Paper roses, blooms eternal
As fresh in your mind as from mine
If the petals drip with poison
It’s the alchemy of art
Denature pain and push it out
So better things can grow
I write so I can heal myself
I sing so you might understand

My heart I replicate in verse
And yield it to the currents
To float through space, suspending time
To reach the distant shore of you
Displacing your reality
With co-hallucinated blossom
I write so I can use my voice
I sing so you might hear me

A resonance of souls
Allows for recognition
I speak in dreams, between the stars
All I am is words
A line you’ve heard somewhere before
Echoes of a memory or a future not yet lived
I write so I can feel hope
I sing so you remember

[Elena Nola is an integration mentor, poet, and shaman-in-training. She has a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and has been discussing books, movies, and fandom online since 2009. Her poetry can be found at elenanola.comand for coaching/mentoring inquiries please visit thepatternbreaker.com.]