Throatline

It started as a pressure band A quiet fist, a steady hand Right where the breathing and naming meet Right where the lie gets hard to keep Every no I never said Every word I bit instead Lived there like a wire pulled tight Thin and white beneath the light One more swallow, one more clean excuse But the body knows what the mouth won't do Throatline All the unsaid turns to heat Right where the breath and damage meet Every silence cuts this close Throatline Feel the whole truth start to rise Like a blade behind the tongue One more second and it splits Throatline I can keep my face composed While the pulse climbs up my throat I can stand in perfect form With a storm pinned under bone Every answer leaves a scrape Like it drags across the ache Every look that lingers long Tightens what I keep pulled shut One more swallow, one more careful line But the body keeps its own sharp time Throatline All the unsaid turns to heat Right where the breath and damage meet Every silence cuts this close Throatline Feel the whole truth start to rise Like a blade behind the tongue One more second and it splits Throatline I kept my voice in a locked room Held it still till it turned cruel Now the hinge is giving under it Now the air tastes like the truth No halo No soft release Just the nerve before the break And the sound of something living Pushing hard against the shape Throatline All the unsaid turns to heat Right where the breath and damage meet Every silence cuts this close Throatline Feel the whole truth start to rise Like a blade behind the tongue I don't think it wants to stay in Throatline