slack
there are days
months
even years
when life circles around one word
everything you do and think and feel and see
somehow finds its way back to you in
this same combination of line and shape
picking and choosing each step carefully
watching out for the trap of A
the tail of Q
the slithering snake of S
this word will always come home to you
even if you don’t want it
or like it
or imagine it tattooed on an ankle
just in the spot where a shackle would hide it
you tuck it under your tongue
where it rolls around
in a constant struggle to
announce
your infidelity
your use and abuse
of all those other words
the ones that don’t belong to you
this word refuses to be swallowed
catching in your throat and
haunting you
taunting you
with threats to expose
your silence
.
.
.
.
A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo. see more here.
April 7th, 2013 at 11:32 am
dang…rather ominous end on this…the word that follows us around and wont leave us alone…interesting way to look at that…and how sometimes we get caught in the cycle of them….
April 7th, 2013 at 12:07 pm
oh god. i thought i might cry while reading this, from relief at feeling my word shackles gone at last, from fear that a new word will show up, at your ability to see hard truths and say them.
April 8th, 2013 at 7:31 am
Wow . . . such insight.