Words
I detain them anxiously
at the border of my mouth
like nails to be hammered out
I commit small phrases to
hard labor within the bleak
Siberia of my heart...
I sense lines best beneath my
index whilst running over
my reflection at certain
sections of everybody
else's literary sweat...
words, segments, whole sentences
paragraphs, pages, chapters
parts, books, sequels, collectives
volumes; silent, or loud, this
"in the beginning," of it
at the edge of every thought
half forgotten genesis
it isn't easy
it isn't easy...
being a wordsmith.
#Words #Challenge
<font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="silver">02.28.2018</font>
Chaotic Words
Tango of shame
I am to blame
words carving
life slot starving
magic pluck
no such luck
dip into soft jar
weary hand from afar
widen the road
madness unload
stomp into ground
solution not found
naked words
hushed birds
molten breath
sudden death
skeletons strung
clotheslines flung
slice the wind
cover sin
tense echoes
lined in rows
no elbow room
certain doom
long reach
I beseech
infinite sky
let words fly
unhinge the strings
free thought rings.
A Word Is A Word Is A Word, But ...
when words flow forth,
like a faucet turned on,
or a river running wild,
they become power,
energy,
a sense of purpose,
a reason for being.
when words are read,
they transform,
alter,
change a person's world,
from the first page or chapter;
even until the ending is reached.
when words are spoken,
they create response,
soultions,
answers,
the need to just be heard.
Such is the power of the word.
A single word
has changed a world,
has changed a people,
has changed what is around us.
Words are such a powerful thing.
They have brought us to where we are now.
Words Are
An elementary school girl crying in the front seat of her mom's Volvo.
Irreconcilable differences.
An affadavit, a subpoena, a courtroom.
The Civil Rights Movement.
A presentation turned promotion.
A proposal. An obituary.
The song that makes you sing, the song that makes you think.
A diploma.
A moment of laughter, an hour of crying.
Word Library
What if words were kept in a library, and you had to check them out if you wanted to use them? Would they all be alphebetized, or would they be listed by subject? Would there be a roped off Adult section at the back? Would there be metal and wood dividers to keep the words upright? Would the words have covers to keep them from fading? Would there be an oversize section? Could you put a hold on a word so only you could use it? How long would it be before you had to return it? What would the late fees be like? Would there be a cardboard box near the door full of old words no one wanted, that you could rifle through on your way out? Would there be a shelf full of popular words that famous people recommend? Would people browse the shelves to find a word they like, then retreat to a secluded corner of the library to study it? Would there be word stores, word clubs, high school word reports, illegal word pirating sites? Classic words, banned words? Would everyone be quieter? How on earth would you write anything?
Leslie Kessler
erase
i love you, she wrote
and before the words could etch into
any other mind
she took them out of the world
just as she brought them in.
all but the faint
traces of scribbled thoughts
lightly penciled in
remained on the scrap of paper
where her truth threatened
to be.
now
the words
were a collection of rubber shards
scattered along the desk
before she blew them to the floor.
*Guttural Primate Sound*
None of these darkened pixels on your computer screen mean anything.
The scribbles of ink in your notebook have no more inherent sound to them than the blank spaces in between them.
The inflections of your lips and tongue create nothing but meaningless noise.
But these pixels, and these scribbles, and these inflections mean worlds to us.
They make us love, and they make us go to war.
They describe themselves, and make us think in ways we could only explain by ways of using them--
But in reality,
Words are nothing but a myth of the collective mind.
