I am learning the business of being
loved, the way always lingers on the tongue
after it’s spoken more than once.
There is a rhythm to it, the banality of breathing
in the same space for years, inhabiting
the same room, but at a distance.
We discover silence and speech all over again,
but oh love, how hard to believe that strength
can also be quiet, how hard to name
the things I want, how hard to trust that saying
is not synonymous with breaking.
Header photograph © Christopher Nielsen.
Haley Campbell is a poet and editor who lives in Austin, Texas. She received her BA in English from the University of Mary Washington. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Hypertrophic Lit, Mojave Heart Review, L’Éphémère Review and Rhythm & Bones, and she’s currently a reader for Pidgeonholes.
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