Can I tell my story

without telling

part of yours?

Do I have the right

to broadcast

the secrets

that we shared?

If I loved you,

I’d keep silent.

The love I believed in

was just a belief.

Never real,

never true,

yet—

still worthy

of my silence.

* This poem was inspired by a tell all book a celebrity put out. Shared secrets spilled...and it made me think about how crappy I have felt when something I said in private became public. Or, something I said got twisted beyond my intentional meaning. It also made me realize how vulnerable we are when we share our own stories. I don't want to to leak secrets that hurt others, but I have at times because perfection is unobtainable in this life. Some secrets do need to be told, but others do not. When I write, even when what I write isn't about me, it still is driven by my personal experience and my encounters with others.