Poetry shapes words into daggers
to penetrate the listener.
To say the unsayable
form the wrong words into a mine detector
then glide it over
the vocabulary hidden under your skin
until the beeps quicken
then carefully dig and defuse the proper word.
So much of the poetry I hear at open mic
is the violent loss of virginity before puberty
and the cascading damage
shame perpetrates upon the victim.
Unabashedly revealing that truth
creates beauty from deformity.
Bend a spoon with poetry.
There is no spoon.
Bend yourself with poetry
into the shape of the you to come.
copyright © 2021 Kenneth P. Gurney
Umflop 