Regular Poem: Terse

it’s probably because
i’m actually

verbose

multitudinous and superfluous and loquacious and garrulous

in actual conversations

in actual life
to her definitely but
even to myself

i talk so much
(“are you afraid of silence, mrs. peacock?”
“yes.
what?! no! why?!”)

i talk so much
to myself

i talk so much
to people i like

i talk
because i can’t not

but when someone questions opposes
i don’t

my face talks
for me

i know enough
not to speak
but my not speaking
is speaking too

(my words may be terse
but my face is

verbose

multitudinous and superfluous and loquacious and garrulous)

“you can always tell when
al is thinking;
each thought plays across her face”

i’ve never been good at hiding
never had an incentive worthy enough to expend the energy

except when i have
and i hid from something that needn’t really have been hidden from

i mentioned i had been terse

perhaps i had
perhaps she liked that explanation
perhaps i had liked that she liked that
in my
verbose but terse
way

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