when you write it down
write it heart-loud
write it first in burgundy
like the blood that pulses through
each of our veins, insecure
it waits there in the quiver
of the readying call-to-action
that trauma throws
into motion—it’s the healing
write through this with me
take a breath
in blue go back over
each letter you’ve confessed
each word conjured with skill
will come alive, 3D, jump
off the page, wrap every looped letter
around to embrace you
write through this with me
write it heart-proud
with deep intention knowing
this is medicine
then write it again
when you write it down
and over again be sure
the page can feel you, be sure
it can hear you
tear into the page beneath
so there is no mistaking your mark
write through this with me
write it heart-confident
know that you chose
this surface assured it would catch
you when you run off the edge
or break into the next page
it’s your muse—use it
write through this with me
Photo Credit: Chrischi M. Flickr via Compfight cc
Rebecca Smolen
Rebecca is a Portland-based writer who works as a veterinary technician by day. She grew up on a dead-end road in NH exploring drainage pipes and pond-life. She leads generative writing workshops using the Gateless Method and views inspiration and writing as a form of healing. Rebecca has a strong feminist voice occasionally trapped within society’s confines, but vows to teach her son and daughter there are no confines. You can find her poetry in the Poeming Pigeon, The Inflectionist Review, Unchaste Anthology, Mutha Magazine, chapbook, Womanhood and Other Scars and forthcoming this year, Excoriation, a full-length manuscript from PoetryBox.
