words of affirmation, a reference to one of five love languages, explores themes of self-expression, love, and the challenge that comes with articulating your emotions in words. Each stanza seeks to represent the emotional turmoil that comes with having words trapped within yourself, and the second in particular puts a focus on the feeling of frustration and a desperate wish to make sense of it all in an unequivocal, scientific manner. The flowing contrast of carefully curated words and an increasingly turbulent stream of questions attempts to capture moments of guilt and vulnerability that are inevitable before change.
As our minds become cluttered with complex information and sensations that develop faster than we can understand, I have found myself struggling to express myself in tangible language – a sentiment I’ve found is shared by many. Attempts to represent these feelings on paper or in other forms of release add to a growing sentiment of helplessness, as the distance between myself and an answer to my confusion seems to grow infinitely larger. However, in this crucial fraction of our lives where we seek to understand ourselves and how to find our place in an increasingly convoluted world, it is important to confront these internal conflicts and, if not resolve them, at least come to peace with them. This becomes especially vital when finding people you love. On my own, I realized it’s easy to fall into patterns of self-deprecation without any motivation to create change, but others are oblivious to invisible thoughts, and it’s becoming clear to me that a translation of my mind into comprehensible communication is vital to being a good person, friend, and lover. Though this is an undeniably difficult process, the simple act of revealing myself through this piece is a step out of my comfort zone that hopefully marks the start of a process to becoming a better version of myself.