What's the use of words
when they aren’t really mine,
just lines I'm expected to say?
when they aren’t really mine,
just lines I'm expected to say?
No one wants the real
ones that have been prowling,
thrashing their tails and hissing
in the warm cave of my throat
waiting for their chance
to run and be seen.
There is a script
for the way things are done.
Those words that were really mine
have nothing to do
but wait in the dark while I hope
that in their restlessness
that they don’t tear my own throat
to run and be seen.
There is a script
for the way things are done.
Those words that were really mine
have nothing to do
but wait in the dark while I hope
that in their restlessness
that they don’t tear my own throat
Song Choice: Words by Missing Persons
Liner Notes for this Groove: This poem is linked to the Friday Writings post at Poets and Storytellers United.
Oh, I know that feeling!
ReplyDeleteIt's a terribly frustrating one, isn't it?
DeleteAh yes, there's nothing polite or constrained about the words that wait to leap into our stories and poems!
ReplyDeleteNot in any of the good ones anyway
DeleteIt's a great point ..do we self-edit and temper our work to make it acceptable? Just to stuff like expletives or to the truth itself- so much to think about from your poem, Rommy.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rajani. Thoughts like this have been on my mind quite a bit lately.
DeleteI don't use really large words much, although I pass the vocabulary tests okay. My pet peeve is typos, I can spot them way away. I graduated and then taught Typing and Personnel Records in the U.S. Army a year but then the school was moved to another base. I don't always proofread though, and invariably I will spot a mistake when I have posted on someone else's page.
ReplyDelete..
LOL, I hate it when I spot a typo two seconds too late.
DeleteI love this idea of words as living things. The warm cave of a throat sounds like a cozy place to nestle but they can get quite frustrated in there until eventually something is pushed out into the light.
ReplyDeleteI loved playing around with that imagery. I'm delighted it resonated.
DeleteI have experienced this . Words dying to regurgitate yet holding them back.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the most pleasant of sensations
DeleteLove 'the warm cave of my throat. Lots of food for thought
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marja
DeleteReading your poem, I am reminded of an essay i am writing about self-censorship. Is it really right, am I telling the whole truth? Am I afraid to offend people? Sadly, that essay is still in progress. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's not an essay that can be quickly scribbled out. :D BTW, I tried leaving a comment on your post but keep getting funky error messages. I think the last one went through, but let me know if it didn't.
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