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I’ve internalised invisibility,
Learned to distrust my own adequacy.

Sometime after shedding acquired skin,
I started to scream;

Craving to feel seen eventually gets boring.

Designing for someone else - I still felt;
Then I fell.

Into a shroud of contradiction,
Refused to flatten expectations -
Uncontrollably muting conformation.
The last curtain came down
one evening at nine
its drapery falling
to signal ‘it’s time’
The theater dark
all stagehands have gone
alone in her presence
my final swan song
The exit door opens
a new crowd appears
applauding me onward
past laughter and tears
With one final bow
but never so sure
eternity clapping
— forever’s encore

(The Bryn Mawr Theater: August, 2025)
Are they smiling at me ?
I watch them,
Hands waving in the air.
A spark in my heart,
A small flicker of joy ignites.

I lift my hand Slowly,
Only to be a fool as always.
Their eyes are fixed on something else.

I remember know,
I've always been Invisible.
{friends are like roses
some of them, pretty petals)
(others are the thorns

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my first haiku!!⊱✿⊰
Dead people receive more flowers
Than living ones
Because regret is stronger
than gratitude
Before it's too late
Life is a whisper
Yesterday, your laughter filled the air,
Today, the wind carries my tears.

We are candles in a restless night,
Flickering…
Never knowing
When the flame will fade.
Sometimes it’s okay to live a quiet life,
or find that still spot even when you’re in the middle of a crowd.
Sometimes you’re just meant to be alone
that’s where some of the most real, meaningful moments happen.

It’s not forever—just what you need.
The conscious mind and the body
different but tied tight,
like two parts of the same whole.

Philosophers have struggled to understand this,
how the mind, that thing without space,
talks to the body that takes up space.
Hunger, thirst, passion, pain
show us the mind and body aren’t just separate,
they’re linked deep inside us,
working together,
sometimes quietly, sometimes loud.

So when you sit with your loneliness,
remember it’s not just emptiness
it’s the mind and body syncing,
learning from each other, healing, growing.

Love doesn’t come when you’re running from yourself
it arrives when you’re whole,
when your mind and body find their peace.

So trust the silence, sit with it,
because in that quiet, you become real.
more people will enjoy your company
when you learn to enjoy your own.
12 August 2025
Sometimes You Just Need Quiet
Copyright Malcolm Gladwin
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