Silent, sinking silk by Claudia Porter

Silent, sinking silk

Arriving, but never visible

Fleeting, but always there

Alive inside a hollow shell

And somewhere deep beneath 

Screams dilute to whispers

In an agitated attempt to escape.

And through the walls, an ornate glow

Sprouted from a diseased root

Like a falling raindrop

That never believed it could make it out of the clouds

Comes a lost appreciation 

For the voice pounding out of my chest.

The beautiful song that drifts from my mouth

I’ve hid for so long in the disguise of being a woman.

The sour taste in the back of my throat I’ve carried with me my whole life

Evaporates into toxic waste.

Now I stand at the edge of myself,

Recklessly shattering the silence I once sat in

To take a breath of fresh air 

for the first time.