I never bled from a fist
But I still wear the shape of violence
Raised voices can bruise
Silence can bruise
The threat of eruption bruises
Deepest of all
My shoulders remember
More than I do
They rise before my mind can process
Stiffening at the hint of
Sharpness in a voice
My jaw knows how to lock
Before a word becomes weaponized
My body rehearses defense
Whether or not there’s a war
Bruises don’t fade
They redistribute
Whispering in muscles
Posture
Carving themselves into instinct
You don’t need hands
To harm someone
You need presence
Volume
A door slammed with enough force
Can knock the air out of you
Without ever touching your ribs
Accusations cut sharper than
Belt buckles matched with
An equally sharp tone
In the suffocating pressure of
Someone else’s anger
Tracing warnings into my skin
There’s no doctor for that
No ointment or polite language
That makes it digestible
You can’t ice the memory of a voice
Breaking you down like it was Dismantling cheap furniture
You can’t rest away the sensation of
Your stomach seizing when someone
Drops a shoe too loudly
In another room
Oct 10, 2025
Oct 10, 2025 at 5:02 PM UTC
I never bled from a fist
But I still wear the shape of violence
Raised voices can bruise
Silence can bruise
The threat of eruption bruises
Deepest of all
My shoulders remember
More than I do
They rise before my mind can process
Stiffening at the hint of
Sharpness in a voice
My jaw knows how to lock
Before a word becomes weaponized
My body rehearses defense
Whether or not there’s a war
Bruises don’t fade
They redistribute
Whispering in muscles
Posture
Carving themselves into instinct
You don’t need hands
To harm someone
You need presence
Volume
A door slammed with enough force
Can knock the air out of you
Without ever touching your ribs
Accusations cut sharper than
Belt buckles matched with
An equally sharp tone
In the suffocating pressure of
Someone else’s anger
Tracing warnings into my skin
There’s no doctor for that
No ointment or polite language
That makes it digestible
You can’t ice the memory of a voice
Breaking you down like it was Dismantling cheap furniture
You can’t rest away the sensation of
Your stomach seizing when someone
Drops a shoe too loudly
In another room
The body keeps score
Even when the conscious mind
Tries to move on
-Sorelle