Parrot fashion

Why do people use words

they do not truly comprehend

that they have no experience of

and yet pretend to have wisdom

and authority over the word?

The glory and richness of a word 

is found in the root or as a pearl

within a shell waiting to be found.

What did it mean when first used?

What did people understand

when they first heard it?

The Egg said, ''words mean what I want 

them to mean and nothing more''.

That proud old Egg fell from a great height.

Take a very large pan of boiling water

and throw in the contents of a shopping bag.

Meat, fish, eggs, milk, jelly, fruit, butter, biscuits, cakes,

soups of various kinds and gently heat.

In doing this you will have prepared food

but nothing edible, nothing enjoyable 

and nothing worthwhile.

So does the man who throws words 

onto a page without the slightest comprehension. 

He speaks, he writes and even debates, parrot fashion. 

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

we hear words and then use them in our poems....and sometimes how we have heard the words used, that is not the real meaning...so while trying to sound so smart, we actually can sound pretty silly...

we should just be quiet and eat the crackers....better than eating crow when we are found out to be using the wrong words in the right circumstances.

[Huw]

Confused look becomes mega smile....having Google'd eating crow.

[Huw]

These lines stem from a conversation I was having with a young man who called to discuss some preaching he'd been listening to. He was deeply concerned about what he had heard and couldn't understand why. Having asked him the basis of the fine speech I then explained what the terms actually meant.It became blatantly obvious to him that the men he'd heard didn't have a clue about what they pretended to know. I knew he'd understood when he looked me in the eye and said, ''parrot fashion''!