Words

my TRUE, lifelong love affair

 

Words

I chew on

curling my tongue

around them. Tart and sweet

at once as I search for the perfect dash -

smelling of Spring and the potential in manure.

They dance in my nose, causing me to ask myself:

What is it that you're craving? (A fried bologna sandwich).

I am transfixed by the twists in their form. Some long and awkward,

others short and to the point. A drop out poet might call them "right on."

Ink stains the page in familiar patterns and I remember back to the time before

I could read them. Where they were like great mysteries. Finding joy in uncoding them

like crosswords I play with now on Sundays with green tea, blueberries, and Life cereal.

(We serve pulpy citrus juice and kisses at exactly 11 a.m.) It's then that I wonder,

how did I ever live without them? They wake me in the heart of night, begging

as I reach for my glasses and purple pen. Rainchecking them into the page.

"I can hear you. Yes, I will look you up. Yes. I will call back Monday"

when the kids are off to school and the house is still. To do. To do.

I finger them, chasing their strong lines and whimsy, blissful.

(Never one afraid to stare out a window daydreaming).

They are fuzzy and warm. They understand, agree,

like childhood friends living parallell lives

and hopelessly waiting for

Mondays where they'll

play with

words.