“Words Can Sting Like Anything”*
Cool clean cut lines
of cold hearted slashes
gashes of color
drawn blood
sweat beads of fear
you didn’t mean
you didn’t know
how far your words
would go
to hurt.
* Title from the poem by Phyllis McGinley on silence.
Heresay Hear Today
In
sin
u
ation
over
what
Katy
did
or
didn’t
do
to
Dahlia
is
here
say
prattle
of
goss
i
ping
blooms
filled
with
en
vy
Cruel Beauty
The nature of paranoia
feels persecuted by nature
sees flowers gossiping
their pistols pissing/hissing
stamens wagging
with stories about
the outsider
who turns away in tears
malicious, vicious words
pollinating the silence
while venomous stamens
draw ovules of blood
as the razor sharp leaves
slit slender petals
MOONSIDE 