Words/Day

You'll soon lose interest in walking

and talking and wearing the cap

of a fool. You'll.

         Words: walk, talk, wear, cap, fool, you, soon, lose.

Idea!: Four word poems, ten

syllables per line, six

lines per paragraph. Graph.

         Words: idea, word, poem, syllable, line, paragraph, per, graph.

The night I wrecked my father's car

necking with my date after the dance

inching forward into traffic

foot tapping the brake like an erection.

         Words: night, car, father, wreck, date, dance, neck, traffic, inch, foot, tap, brake.

The USFS issued paper sleeping bags

like tissues during forest fires and fed us

steak and pop. All you could eat.

         Words: paper, bag, sleep, tissue, fire, steak, pop, eat, food, forest, us.

Things hurt. Pain is a message

to shut up and slow down.

Breathe deep, take care. Wait and see.

         Words: hurt, pain, shut, slow, breathe, care, wait, see, deep, message.

Just as the war

in the Iliad goes back

and forth according to Hector's

fortunes, so does marriage and a truck in mud.

         Words: just, war, back, forth, fortune, marriage, truck, mud.

Fear destroys the last free assessment of life.

But what is there to fear. Death

is most of all like sleep. Death

is but a dream missed.

         Words: fear, free, assess, destroy, life, death, sleep, dream, like, but, miss.

Author's Note

–-with a line by Maxine Hong Kingston