loud little lines

open heart surgery
said her scar
two melanomas
said mine
car accident
said his
barely escaped with my life
such delicate jagged lines
stories of pain
memories we’d rather forget
impossible reminders
no one warned me
how years later they twinge
as if touched by a new knife
how sleep suddenly flees
at ghostly terrors and pangs
fresh survival
it’s not when we get there
it’s how
it’s not how we get there
it’s if
if you must speak, whisper