Linguistics

What's in a word?
Some words hit me like a ton of bricks
Kicking me when I'm down, 
Spitting acrid fumes for good measure,
Filling the air with blue smoke
Shaped in letters
And syllables,
Words I never truly believed 
But couldn't get out from under
The heavy boot shaped mark 
They left
Upon my chest

Some words bounce off me
Like rubber balls,
I see them coming
But I don't feel them,
Their consonants take aim
But cannot penetrate the trance
I've placed myself in,
Their vowels search for cracks
In my exterior
But they fall to the floor
Like some unknown language
Beyond my ability to care

Some words wash me
Like scented spring rain 
Melting the ice of winter
To drip onto my tongue
And trickle down my throat,
Painting themselves 
In tender lines,
Like henna inked upon my skin,
Poetry inscribed 
In verses spilled with honesty
Seeping deep into my soul

Some words reach me
Without even trying
Just by being
Breathed

  


february 2009
Janet Reid




Awarded by Poetic Constellations ~ Dawn






Awarded by Poetic Constellations ~ Thomas