Category Archives: language

Cliché

I need a cliché to anchor
My poetry to a real world
To bounce off of what is
Real and what is not, or 
Just to add verisimilitude
To what I say, or maybe to
Add significance to mere
Words, we know that they,
The mere words are not as
Substantial as we expect
Them to be, as we need 
Them to be. Mere words

Consequences

Is what we do in line 
With what we say? 
Are we truthful? Is it
Our wish to tell it like
It is? Or are we happy
To prevaricate? One
Word for truth, dozens
For lies. Verily, if true
Veracity, candor, lying,
Mendacity, sincerity,
No consequences for
Lying, none for truth.
Speaking what we do
Know, knowing what 
Is so, does this mean
You don't know what
Is not truth, not real.

No. No. Nyet

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?

It might suit you, but I would 
Have to pass. What you are
Proposing is way above my 
Class. I really couldn't and I
Know I shouldn't. So I will
Just have to say no 'cause I
Can't and I mustn't. I have to
Say no because it wouldn't be
Right for me to do what you
Ask. I find it hard but "No," I
Have to pass 'cause what you
Are asking won't do for me at
All. It might suit you, but no.
I would have to decline. No.

In a name

What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance?

Without a middle I emphasize 
The first and always spell the
Last, adding, for good measure,
A jocular remark referencing a
Populist product with which we
Have come to share our family
Name. Lacking that initial that
Distinguishes Paul Smith as not 
That Smith but the one named 
John feels like a small but big
Omission. What would I do with
An initial between first and last?

Bon mots

Now, there's a man who's had a
Lifetime of language on his tongue
Still playing with the words he 
Finds buried deep and sometimes 
Hard to unearth; after all this time
He has to dig deeper these days
To use just the right one, the 
Funny one that will please him
And amuse his listener, the one
That pulls a laugh from his 
Audience. That's the language 
He wants to share from a life
Of speech and conversation
His best tidbit, an amuse bouche
For the ear, the remembrance 
Of just the right thing to say

Punctuated

I noticed something today.
Where and how I punctuate 
My lines helps me shape the 
Lyric of my poems. Sometimes 
Nothing. Other times I throw
A comma your way or find a
Final period holds the place;
If I want the thought to carry
I might need the aid of a dash
Or a semi-colon! I err on the
Side of caution in refraining 
From exclaiming with points
But emphasis is from time to
Time artificially induced and
Needs assistance. Emboldened
Words and letters in caps or
Ital can move an idea through.
I noticed this just today, and
Thought I would let you know.

Babel

Reposted from https://wp.me/s8jzUa-babel

Today, I envision a poem written

In a language I cannot speak

Or understand, so it may be just

So much nonsense, so much sound

Signifying little or less than the

Bard envisioned in a language he

Manipulated so grandly and eloquently

My poem is cacophony, rhythm and perhaps

Rhyme, but it is a language I cannot speak

It is a poem both glorious and misconstrued.

Where do I begin speaking in tongues?

Who will repeat my words, memorize my

Message when this project ends with a

Simple finis? Will it just be the end?