I tend to be comfortable in water –
pressing wet palms to my ears,
running my head under the shower.
The constant drum on my scalp
slows the wallop in my chest.
The beat-pattern of drop-patter
cannot fill this silence.
Stale, autumn air fills my throat
like bubbles to a drowner’s lips,
until my nose breaches the surface
and I scream light into the night –
daybreak. Blue jays hop in my yard,
lapping dew off blades of grass.
Messy squiggles from rain carve paths
from your navel. I trace them to your nape
Before evaporating with the rain.
Steven Salisbury
Finalist, Distinguished Voices in Literature Poetry Prize
In “I Did Not Intend to Speak Up,” the poem moves delightfully from image to image. The use of repeated sounds in a line like “slows the wallop in my chest” and synesthesia in “I scream light into the night” are incredibly effective.
–Christine Kitano, Contest Judge, author of Sky Country and Birds of Paradise
Steven Salisbury is majoring in Professional Writing with a minor in Cinema. He draws from personal experience and his passion for musical lyricism to write poetry. A focus on making the intangible tactile shapes his image-driven style.