I Do Not Scream

A Poem by Shontay Luna

I do not scream,

nor do I raise my

voice in anger. My

stealth stare boxed

up and shelved away

in some dusky, dank

corner of my memory.

Instead, I write. The

ink marking the surface

with the slightest tinges

of fury disguised as curves.

disguised as beauty atop

layers of unseen pain. The

paper knows as it takes

the punishment; it has no

choice. On the rarest

occasions when the ink

bleeds, I find it oddly

satisfying. Those random

dots and swaths the

representations, dismissals

and dimensions singing of

the things that I once thought

bothered me.

I do not scream; my pen does

it for me.

---

Photo by Klim Musalimov

Shontay Luna is a Leo Queen from The City of Big Shoulders and for the longest time, has used words as portals to other worldly realms. Books include ‘Reflections of a Project Girl,’ ‘Recollections & Dreams,’ ‘To James & Sarah with Love – Poetry based on slang from 1920s through 1940s’ and ‘The Goddess Journal – a tool for unlocking the Goddess within every Woman.’ Appearances include ‘Text Power Telling,” “Brittle Paper,” “Flying Island Journal” and “Uut Poetry,” among others. She remains in her native city with her pens, notebooks and Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz photo gallery. Find her on IG @shontayluna.