body

soft tongued

now i have to use elevated speech or invent

words that will mean what i want to say

it is not easy, the speech of angels, especially

coming from angels far away from god       the tongue

is a slimy and slippery stone that hangs

in my throat and waits on the spit of a spirit

to sluice the tumid terms and to seed words

that can twist and pull a tooth from me       blood

cooling my mouth parts and boiling blank

runes out from my heart      maybe a god with

a core of its own will hear my plea these days

then not feel that need to tear life out      a kind host

no vengeance-of-the-lord wings whip-cracking

but one who speaks clearly and makes words

i have never heard      unclouded words

flowing cool like blue-chilled milk and i can say

them in likeness to you     my breath will be

silvered frost and my speak will save you

you will know what it means when you hear it

the meaning you will know when i make my echo

(mostly words mean less than nothing

now       all are mockeries of sound)

seasofme 181115parallaxis