Writing Through The Lines
written by: Melissa Lemay
Architecture in letters—thousands
And thousands of them—all structured
Differently, yet with one common
Purpose to express that which
Can’t be put into words, the whole
Meaning, some remains unseen
Building from the ground up
Connecting for thousands
Of years, showcasing existence
Leaving messages that we were here
Sending out signals in numbers
Creating diversity in fiction and
Nonfiction, blending genres
Across lines, bleeding onto pages
Uniting people, all living things
Words, explaining, expressing
Pressing the issues
Deviating from societal norms
Sharing as much light or dark
As we can bear of ourselves
In the stroke of a pen or the
Ticking away of a typewriter
Typeface, fonts by the thousands
Endless inflection for
Different meaning, all imagined
Within a story by thousands
Of different people reading
Connecting to each other on
A strand of words
Fragile ink, thin like ribbons
Ordered and arranged at discretion
Of an author writing anecdotes,
Essays, memoirs and short stories
Millions of stories, every one
Stored in our epithelial layers
Grafting experiences together
God-breathed letters for me
To write down and keep or
Throw away; though a page is
Gone, its memory lives on
In the atmosphere
Healing by flowing letters
Thousands of them into poetry
Stanzas by the thousands
Couplets, duplexes, line breaks
Punctuation adding elemental
Details painlessly or
Indelibly, delivering the final
Blow in a statement of letters
Noun, addressing a letter is a
Name, and it is proper, and even
That is designed by consciousness
Juxtaposition of paragraphs
Alters the flow and rhythm
Of the words, changing scenes
And outcomes, actions, verbs
Thousands and thousands of verbs
Communicating what we will learn
Kinetically powered letters coming
Together form words, form events,
Move tongues, bring hands, opening
And closing textbooks, notebooks,
And ears listening to audiobooks
Audible announcements of words
Layers of meaning within the same
Words said by different people
But the words never change, they
Are consistent and consistently
Being created, new words, new verbs
Monotony is not served with well-
Constructed words connected into
Strings of sentences; break apart
The words, and letters, and all
Their sounds and rearrange them
Differently to say something
Nevermind when words don’t make
Sense, even made-up words are
Words; in words there are no
Winners and losers, though I
Will tell you differently
Ostentatious words, attractive
To some, unattractive to others
Depending on their upbringing
And environment and their beliefs
About the words they’ve been told
Written down or spoken words
Parameters designed to bring
Tangible evidence to emotions
Reactions, responses, opinions
All subjective for each person
Subjectively they choose their
Words
Questions form and are formed
From words and letters and numbers
(They can be written out in letter
Form) form queries and symbols
Wait at their end for an answer
Hypophora is a question
Rhetoric in writing serves purpose
As does all writing, even that which
Has no purpose at all—my writing
Dreams in the dark, where letters
Have been swallowed and then later
They re-emerged from a cocoon
Salve made from letters both
Corrects and protects, and things
Are correct, they aren’t right
Or left, and some things are wrong
Whether you believe it or not
The words say that it is so
Tempered words are the best kind
Are the only kind—words will outlast
You, and you is a word
You speaks of love and hate
And a fascination with anything
Outside of yourself
Ultimately we will all say last words
We’ve already past words, as we sing
Tomorrow words and some despair them
Tomorrow words aren’t here yet, but
People can always borrow words or
Invent a word if they need one
Victory has seven letters and on the
Seventh day God rested—words are
Whole and complete leaving room for
More words, infinite words, eternal
Words are forever, unremitting,
Never-ending, interminable words
Wise words especially have lasting
Effect—wisdom streams from
Generation to generation, sometimes
Hiding in the cracks, sometimes
Trampled on, sometimes victorious
In their own predetermined right
Xerox words onto your heart words
Keep a memory of them for in time
You need words to soothe, uplift,
Mediate, perpetuate, help words
Finance words into publications
To live-on words for others to use
Youth words crawl, walk, then run
Words, and sometimes letters fly
To the depths of the sea and the
Breadth of the universe—expansive
Expansive is nine letters but it
Is not complete just quite yet
Zenith is six letters, it is a word
But it is not human, not even close
For it is where words come from,
And no human being, no matter how
Much I attempts it, could ever
Take credit for that
- Goodness - January 4, 2025
- Maybe - September 29, 2024
- Interview Q&A With Melissa Lemay - August 20, 2024
