Plainly Speaking

I am not clever.
I don’t know the words 
poets use.

I say tree and I mean the one I leaned against
when standing was too much.

I say stone and I mean the one I carried in 
my chest until it bruised the heart.

I say hunger because you know 
the emptiness I mean.

I say love because despite everything, 
I still do.

This is all I have:
plain speech
like bread
like water.
Enough to keep me alive.

I offer them to you, 
as they were offered to me.