Silent

This week's case at CSI was a really interesting one for me. I loved the sketch and the inspiration photo was so interesting, but when I got to the journal prompts, I knew exactly what I was going to do. See, sometimes I struggle with feeling like I have nothing worth hearing, so I stay silent. It's something I've struggled with, off and on, always. I was actually quite shy and quiet as a child and those feelings rear their ugly head from time to time. One day I was feeling particularly on the outside, so I poured out my feelings in a free poem. Writing poetry is something new for me. I have always believed that I couldn't write. Sound familiar? Actually, a lot of the rules elude me, but I don't need to worry about all that in poetry, so I have found my sounding board.

I went out and snapped a few selfies to support the story, turned them black and white, added them to a film strip frame file, and cut them apart to add to my banner.  To make my background, I masked off one half of my page, got it good and wet, sprayed with spray mist and stamped to add texture.  Then I masked off that side, brushed red paint, stamped a cool gear stamp all over, added some watered down grey on top to calm it down. I then just started throwing things into a banner position, adjusted bits, added bit, removed bits, and glued everything down. I cut some clouds out of book pages, printed off my poem, cut it up into strips, and adhered all those down. I decided to let the last word in the poem stand as the title. It's what the whole piece was about.

Evidence used: mixed media background, bird cage, birds, frame, gears, circles, book pages, typewriter, and clouds.

Testimony is a free verse poem.

Silence crashes all around me
Words unspoken
Feelings tamed
Like wild animals behind bars
Silence rings deafeningly
Lips are still
Eyes plead
Hear me, oh hear me
Silence bullies its way in
Do not speak
You have nothing to say
Shush
Silence roars from the distance
Alone
Unseen
Silent