Confused, but I'm watching the flow. Poetry Analysis (Unsaid Coordinates)

Hi! Welcome back to SoniaVoyage!🌻

Don't forget to have a drink, okay?

Alright y’all. I’m writing this on a quiet evening (actually it's 11:18 pm lol) where everything feels slightly off-balance... not in a sad way, just in that strange, in-between space where thoughts turn a little too poetic for their own good.

You know those moments when someone’s presence in your life shifts a little, almost imperceptibly? Nothing dramatic, nothing you can point at… just a feeling that the air has rearranged itself.

Lately, my days have been filled with tiny coincidences, half-meanings, and conversations that seem to hold more weight than the words themselves. I’m not sure what any of it means, maybe nothing, maybe something... but it’s enough to make me reach for a poem.

So here it is. A quiet piece about ambiguity, distance, and the little mysteries people carry with them.

Unsaid Coordinates

by Uni Sonia Yulianti

We move in borrowed hours,
two shadows crossing unfamiliar light.
Your presence brushes mine in gentle colours
that fade before I name them right. 

You ask small questions, quiet, steady,
as if testing the borders of my air.
I answer softly, never ready
for the weight your pauses start to bear.

There are days you shift like weather,
subtle changes in the way you stand.
As though a thought you tried to tether
escaped and settled in your hand.

Between the stories you still carry
and the roads you claim you have to choose,
I read the moments where you tarry,
those fleeting beats you never use. 

Yet here we are, circling the unnamed,
lost in a space we never drew.
What do you actually want from me?
And what do I want from you?

 

POEM ANALYSIS

We move in borrowed hours,
two shadows crossing unfamiliar light.
Your presence brushes mine in gentle colors
that fade before I name them right.
This stanza introduces a feeling of quiet uncertainty. “Borrowed hours” suggests moments that feel temporary or fragile, as if they were never truly yours to keep. The image of “two shadows crossing unfamiliar light” reflects a connection forming in unexpected places. When the presence arrives in “gentle colours” that fade too quickly to name, it shows emotions that appear softly but disappear before the speaker can fully understand them. The mood is delicate, hesitant, and slightly mysterious.

You ask small questions, quiet, steady,
as if testing the borders of my air.
I answer softly, never ready
for the weight your pauses start to bear.

This stanza focuses on the subtle intimacy between two people. The questions are small, but intentional, as if someone is carefully approaching the speaker’s emotional space. “Testing the borders of my air” suggests entering that space cautiously, perhaps with unspoken curiosity or care. The speaker responds gently, almost uncertain, feeling how even the pauses in the conversation begin to carry meaning. It captures that fragile stage where every silence feels like it might be saying something.

There are days you shift like weather,
subtle changes in the way you stand.
As though a thought you tried to tether
escaped and settled in your hand.

This stanza shows attention to tiny changes in someone’s behaviour. “Shift like weather” expresses unpredictability, but in a soft, natural way. The changes are not dramatic, just slight differences that feel significant to the speaker. The image of a thought escaping and settling in a hand suggests that the person unintentionally reveals something they meant to keep hidden. It reflects those accidental gestures or expressions that reveal more than words do.

Between the stories you still carry
and the roads you claim you have to choose,
I read the moments where you tarry,
those fleeting beats you never use. 

This part explores the weight of someone’s past and their uncertainties about the future. The speaker notices how the person still carries certain memories or attachments and how they talk about decisions they need to make. Yet there are moments where they linger, hesitate, or pause in a way that feels meaningful. These “fleeting beats” represent the subtle spaces where quiet feelings might be hiding. It shows how emotional truth often lives in the pauses, not the explanations.

Yet here we are, circling the unnamed,
lost in a space we never drew.
What do you actually want from me?
And what do I want from you?

The final stanza acknowledges the ambiguity between the two people. “Circling the unnamed” describes a relationship or connection that exists without definition. “A space we never drew” suggests they arrived here unintentionally, without planning or labeling anything. The last lines present the real tension: both individuals might feel something, but neither knows what they want or where this connection should go. The uncertainty is not painful or dramatic; it is simply real and unresolved.

Art by my friend, Kelly

Sometimes the most confusing moments aren’t the loud ones... they’re the subtle shifts, the pauses, the unsaid things that linger a bit too long.

I still don’t know what to make of it all. Maybe the poem knows better than I do. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it’s just my way of tracing a feeling I can’t name yet.

Thank you for reading this small piece of my wandering thoughts.

Here’s to all the questions we pretend not to ask, and all the answers we’re not quite ready to hold.

See you on the next page!!!🌙✨