Thursday, May 31, 2012

Memorial Day

All day words
run past my tongue

words tumble and fall
and you catch
the wrong ones
and count them back to me

All day I watch
my tongue

for words
that slip down the slope of my
neighborhood

words that separate
me from you

words that you catch
and hold against me

All day I watch for words misshapen
or ben
around my too thick tongue

run-down at the heel words
thin soled words

words that slip
from my tongue

words that tell of mops
and beer
and bent backs

words that shape my world
against a different map
than yours

All day I watch my tongue
for words

---Linda Christensen