Careless Whispers
Before the silence came the fire.
Careless Whispers is the second book in the Quiet Whispers trilogy by award-winning poet Oquirrh Keyes.
Where The Quiet Calendar captured the grief of ending, this collection reveals what burned before the ashes settled.
These 46 poems trace the arc of a decade-long affair - from the first spark of desire to the slow unraveling of everything it touched. Written with unflinching honesty and dark humor, Careless Whispers explores the space between want and consequence, between surrender and control, between the lies we're told and the ones we tell ourselves. This is not a story of victimhood. It's a story of agency, complexity, and the uncomfortable truth that desire doesn't wait for permission. The speaker is not innocent - she's aware, sharp-eyed, and unwilling to let anyone else write her narrative.
Through intimate vignettes and stark confessions, the collection moves from seduction to illusion to rupture. Hotel rooms and parking lots become crime scenes. Text messages become evidence. A steel cuff becomes both promise and prison. And silence - weaponized, wielded, survived - becomes the thread that connects this book to the one that came before. Featuring original pencil illustrations by the author, Careless Whispers pairs visual storytelling with verse to create an immersive reading experience. Each sketch serves as artifact and evidence - objects that carry the weight of what words alone cannot hold.
For readers of confessional poetry, verse memoirs, and literary explorations of infidelity, power dynamics, and reclamation, Careless Whispers offers something rare: a woman's unfiltered account of wanting, losing, and refusing to disappear.
Book One, the quiet calendar, is a Literary Titan Gold Award winner and Reader Views Reviewer's Choice Finalist. Book Three, SHAME, completes the trilogy. "This book is not careful. It was written in heat - in clarity, not confusion. In want, not weakness." - from the Author's Note
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