the loudness of silence speaks
Photos & Poetry x Penelope Joy
words come at me in your belly
and always i remember
them still loud in my ears
you says:
bind that tongue behind your teeth
words?
they will every one
waste unspoken in your throat
(and also)
bury all good things under
hide them with your quiet body
so i did it and i did it
and they each and every one did it
but there never was
nothing i found
for the burying
no one thing nor many
and now you says:
no
now you says:
nothing
(and also)
nothing
noisy in here
and
all
mine
each word becomes over
each silence becomes loud
sack & fist
see there? away up ahead
my words stuffed in a
ragged sack and
disappearing in the
clawed grip of my mother
bumping into her veined legs
dragging on the dusty ground
she does not want them
she wants rid of them
in my mute throat the
weight of words and
her clenched fist
Penelope Joy is currently lost in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, having previously been lost in other places. She isn’t sure how to describe her writing other than as a place that allows silence to be spoken for a short while, difficult and necessary. It has always been this way. She is rather fond of trees and rocks, collecting bones and taking photos, trying in vain to capture all the interesting and beautiful things that are there to be experienced.
