Notes From the Margins

In N Out and Trauma Writing Group

This offering are group poems written by the In N Out and Trauma Writing Group in Spring 2026

This semester we wrote poems in the theme of the body—each week we wrote about a different body part.

These are the uniquely inspired poems for this Spring

Poem 6 – The Lips

The following poem is about the lips. Sometimes lips are the focus of a lover, craving the feel of the loved one’s lips. Sometimes the lips can be the bearer of cruel words, words spoken in anger or in fear. Sometimes lips can be kind. Sometimes they can taste the incredible array of tastes that life can bring. And sometimes the lips taste our tears, salty as they may be, they show us that all the parts are connected.

My lips are salty from eating potato chips.

And my lips are sweet from eating candy.

The taste of saltwater taffy and the nostalgia it brings.

I keep eating candy as the candy man sings.

My lips stay sweeter.

So my words stay truer.