I decided to write this poem when I heard a lot of comments from my family members about how my writing voice is different from my speaking voice. I wanted to tell people through this poem that my thoughts are like everyone else’s even though my speaking voice is not. It speaks to the journey of stuttering because it highlights a misconception people have about stuttering with how thoughts translate into the words we speak. What's important to know is that our perspectives are still worth being heard and shared, regardless of how we say it.
I speak with no words spokenMy voice has always been brokenIt is a record player that has skippedSince the day it was made and can never be fixedI speak through the words you readYour mind speaks my voice with perfect clarityI let you inside my thoughts through your thoughtsYou see me without the need for me to breatheI speak through eyes wide openMy mind has never been brokenIt never slows or skips a beatSince the days before I could speak~ Kelly SeverseikeKelly Severseike is a writer and feminist. She attends school in Denver, Colorado and she will be graduating this fall with BA in English with a concentration in writing. Kelly spends a lot of time writing, reading, browsing Twitter, and listening to podcasts. She’s currently working on several different projects and hopes to one day publish a book.For more publications, posts and blogs by Kelly check out her website kellyseverseike.com,and this book, where she is featured as one of Colorado's up and coming writers.--The American Institute for Stuttering is a leading non-profit organization whose primary mission is to provide universally affordable, state-of-the-art speech therapy to people of all ages who stutter, guidance to their families, and much-needed clinical training to speech professionals wishing to gain expertise in stuttering. Offices are located in New York, NY and Atlanta, GA, and services are also available Online. Our mission extends to advancing public and scholarly understanding of this often misunderstood disorder.
