Tremble

by Joshua Giles

University of the Incarnate Word

Joshua Giles is an English major at the University of the Incarnate Word and is expected to graduate in May 2025

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The wind doesn’t ask,
it just tears through me,
ripping the words I never said
from my chest,
leaving nothing but the howl
of what’s been buried too long.

I’ve had enough.
Enough of silence,
enough of waiting,
of biting back the storm
that so desperately wants to escape.
My world ignores the cracks from
the pressure that’s building beneath.

Thunder shakes my bones,
and I can’t tell if it’s the sky
or the rage in my blood
that’s about to break open.

I’m not gentle anymore.
I don’t want to be.
I want to scream
until the earth trembles—
until I have a reason to stop.

I want to keep fighting
for what I know is right
and what I know I deserve,
and I won’t stop
until I get it.

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