Challenging Poetry

words like knives

stop pretending that your
words are simple honesty.
truth may hurt, but it shouldn’t
delight in pain.

you choose
each syllable and hone it
to a razor edge, coating it
with poison—the poison you only know
because you said you cared
and held her hands
and dried her tears
and listened to her pain.

then, careless of her trust in you,
you throw your words like daggers
and laugh at the sight of
the woman you said you loved
more than life, cringing in agony.

she feels less because of you—
you are the one who shrinks
with every word you throw.
that truth hurts, doesn’t it?

but not like poison,
like a surgeon’s knife,
cutting out the rotten flesh that
makes your tongue so that the
soul beneath can heal.

line count: 26