Your Whisper Changed Everything

 

Your Whisper Changed Everything

  

Something jumped into my ear,

 

It was you,

talking me down
from the roof of my mouth
which wept only one word,


“Suicide"

 

Something collided into my ear,

 

It was you,

crashing the automobile
of my bumper-spinning mind,
which consumed itself in only one word,

 

“Death”

 

Something cried in my ear,

 

it was you,

the baby carriage

I once inhabited was gone,
and I am still here,
though it sits under the mobile spinning
only one word around in my eyes,


“End”

Something played music into my ear,


It was you,

holding the record player
of my eardrum close to your heart,
while I considered only one word,

"Escape”

Something rattled in my ear,

it was you,

holding the bottle
of pills I had planned to swallow
while ruminating on only one word,

“Deceased”

Something whispered into my ear,

It was you,

reminding me of all the best
times we had together;
all of the lunches,
how you taught me how to tie my shoes,

how you taught me to ride a bike,

how you always reminded me to put on my coat
before going outside,
worrying about me being cold,

Reminding
me of the days spent collapsing fears
with your words of guidance
and your ear of wisdom.

Your whisper changed that one word,

it changed it into danger signs
assembled en masse across every street corner of my mind,
while reciting only one word,

“Brother”

Your whisper changed that one word,
it changed
it into looking at skyscrapers from the ground up, turning
them into monuments of freedom,
while reciting only one word,

“Brother”

Your whisper changed that one
word,

it changed it into a yearning
to have a child of my own,
and a hope that this baby will never have to face
the mobile which once haunted
me, while reciting only one word,

“Brother”


Your whisper changed that one
word, it changed it into a symphony
played between us in open light,

while we laughed with no tears hidden
there to hold us down,
while reciting only one word,


“Brother”

Your whisper changed that one word,
it changed into a pharmacy, where medication
became the savior and not the enemy to loathe and distrust,
while reciting only one word,

“Brother”


I Knew I was gay
and I wanted to end my life

Your whisper-
Your whisper changed it all

 

 

 Adam Levon Brown

 

Adam Levon Brown is an internationally published poet and author in 14 countries. He has had his work translated in Spanish, Albanian and Afrikaans. Boasting upwards of 300 published pieces, you can find his writing at such publications as Ariel Chart, Burningword Literary Journal, Angel City Review, Firefly Magazine, Epigraph, Burning House Press and many more. He was longlisted in the 2017 Erbacce Prize poetry competition.