The Overshare at the Right Time

The Overshare at the Right Time

There are two kinds of overshare: the wrong one and the right,
The one that kills a dinner and the one that saves the night,
I overshared at dinner once in a way that cleared the air,
And the table pivoted into something real that was just there.

I had been holding something for approximately three weeks tight,
A situation that I had not processed in the daylight,
And into a silence at the table it just came right out,
More specific than the setting probably warranted throughout.

The overshare at the right time, it can land correct,
It cuts the surface tension and it earns a new respect,
Somebody has to say the actual thing at the table,
The overshare at the right time proves that people are able.

The table went quiet in the way that absorbs a real thing said,
And then someone across from me said yeah, I know that thread,
And we were suddenly in a different conversation than before,
The kind that makes you understand what the dinner was actually for.

Two other people added something that they had been carrying,
The ones who had seemed most likely to be politely tarrying
Through the social obligation of the event with surface care
Turned out to be the ones with the most weight to share.

Now I am not saying overshare your way through every room,
There is a context and a timing to the lifting of the gloom,
The wrong overshare at the wrong table at the wrong hour
Is a grenade without a pin that takes down every flower.

But when the room is right and there is something real in it,
And someone has to say the thing to let the air in a bit,
The right overshare delivered with some judgment can unlock
The kind of conversation you remember round the clock.