I Matter (3-person poem: Maddie, Halie, Lee)

I’m the first layer that one perceives--

No strings attached, nothing up my sleeves.

I may provide a clue as to what lies inside,

But this is what I choose to show--not what I choose to hide.

I emerge from the mind

And I’m released,

Still with some tact,

As you hear my ideas before I act.

You can’t retract words;

They can deceive, they can abbreviate the truth, corrupt the youth

So choose them carefully.

I am here, here in your mind
In your heart, your soul,
You can’t see me, no,
But do I not exist?
Ha!

I bounce between reality and imagination

So quickly that the lines begin to blur
Faster and faster, round and round
Up and down
In and out
Here, there,
Everywhere.

A brand name shirt, blue denim jeans,

I’m just your average earthly scenes--

The world that you can see and hear

And feel and touch and taste all year.

Slipping and sliding silently through cracks in a conversation

Flowing, growing, going wherever I choose

You use me loud and proud, lose me in a crowd

Spit me out, watch as a fight breaks out

Even from a distance, I connect and take effect,

Making impacts with my syntax.

I tell you where to go

How to get there

If you should stay

But no,

Go where the wind takes you.

If you can believe, you can achieve.

Achieving is believing!

(Or is it that seeing is believing?)

What was I saying?

A solid, contained and clearly defined,

Staying still, in my structure, fixed and aligned.

A liquid, grooving, moving, removing, remodeled

With every ebb and flow,

Every fast and slow.

A vapor, flowing freely within my container.

You can’t see me, but I fill the void until no vacuum remains.

I fill your lungs

Pump through your veins

Hold you as you stand tall

Catch you when you fall

I hold you together when you are falling to pieces

Find the word that eases, releases the pain

Figure out what you have to gain.

Look in a mirror, and you’ll see

Air, blood and bones built these frames together.

(beat)

We’re all matter. And we all matter.