Let Me Speak Poem by Charlotte Ballard

Let me speak
I will speak quietly
I will speak softly
Let me speak until I find my anger
Let me speak until I find the source
Of the river that breaks
Between a radical division.
Yet blessed by a priest and a monk
And baptized in frosty
Smears of 2 chips and a
Chocolate rabbit.
Let me speak
In halting words-
Pressed out like old flowers
Found in an ancient tome.
Let me speak,
In soft syllables
Halted by two cords
Lent to me by the same man who
Nearly suffocated me, carelessly,
Because he could, because
He wanted to,
For no other reason
Than that.
Let me speak
Without interruption,
Without you trying to fill the empty space
With practiced phases, sized to
"Fit most."
Let me speak until
I have no more words to weep
Under the edge of a paper skirt, soft and
Fluttering.
Let me speak,
Until I hear my own words
Twin flames, turned low,
And can bear the silence
Inside the hallow place
I used to call my heart.