Our dictionaries are broken.
“Free” is flung from the roof.
We sweat, pulling vinyl over creaking wooden frames.
“Pleasant” is a riot of umbrellas through the village
of donkey-headed men.
We scavenge the development for bricks to make new walls.
“Speak” is to haggle the price of eyelashes.
Where we pretended predictability there are hooves
and tentacles.
“Night” is erratic stumbling into an imaginary tunnel.
The sequence is off. We are domestic animals rooting
for copper wire.
“Alternating” is the sudden onset of a condition resembling narcolepsy.
Now no one reaches easily into a mailbox. We cringe when the car
starts.
“Litter” is a robin’s nest in the coat closet.
The kids are sealing envelopes full of spores.
* * *
This is what I’ve got for Read Write Poem Prompt #81.
28 responses so far ↓
Donald Harbour // July 2, 2009 at 12:54 pm |
Ahhh, the world gone mad and no definition for the outcome. I like it!
Michelle Johnson // July 2, 2009 at 1:12 pm |
excellent write. love this line “Speak” is to haggle the price of eyelashes. keep up the good work. have a great day.
Dave Jarecki // July 2, 2009 at 1:32 pm |
Nathan – I wish you would rewrite the entire dictionary…perhaps a summer writing project?
Nicely done.
Mark // July 2, 2009 at 1:37 pm |
Such vivid imagery and not just a little bit true. Which makes it a tad frightening.
Well done!
nathan // July 2, 2009 at 1:39 pm |
Thanks Donald.
nathan // July 2, 2009 at 1:39 pm |
Thank you Michelle. You have a great day too.
nathan // July 2, 2009 at 1:41 pm |
Dave, rewriting the dictionary — sounds good. I’ll have a rough draft ready in September.
nathan // July 2, 2009 at 1:41 pm |
Thank you Mark!
angie // July 2, 2009 at 4:03 pm |
Probably because yet another of my daughter’s friends is shipping out to Iraq–this is full of lies and war and death to me. What’s the point really, when words have lost their meaning?
nice work.
gautami tripathy // July 2, 2009 at 5:16 pm |
Haggle away! I am lovin’ it!
equus asinus asinus
nathan // July 2, 2009 at 7:43 pm |
I’m sorry to hear about your daughter’s friend, Angie. Thanks for reading.
nathan // July 2, 2009 at 7:43 pm |
Thanks Gautami!
dana // July 3, 2009 at 1:28 am |
Nathan, did you know that I am trying to read the entire dictionary? How will I get anywhere with that undertaking if your definitions mingle with the real ones? I will be sunk.
nathan // July 3, 2009 at 1:42 am |
Dana, why read the dictionary? There’s probably only about fifty words you really need. I get by on about thirty.
Really, though, which dictionary are you reading?
That’s a fantastic undertaking. How is it affecting you?
Erin // July 3, 2009 at 2:05 am |
Love the string of metaphors here. My favorite: “speak” is to haggle the price of eyelashes. I am wowed by this poem.
dana // July 3, 2009 at 4:34 am |
Nathan, a little paperback one — something I can hold in bed. Webster’s New World Dictionary. I am surprised at how many words I know, and yet I can never think of them when it’s appropriate to use them. So my 50 are what I get by on in conversation.
Jeeves // July 3, 2009 at 5:00 am |
Broken dictionaries and everything tipsy! I love this…
sarah haliwell // July 3, 2009 at 10:14 am |
What a brilliant idea, brilliantly executed. I’m very impressed, and that doesn’t happen too often.
nathan // July 3, 2009 at 10:34 am |
Thank you, Erin.
nathan // July 3, 2009 at 10:35 am |
Dana, I can never think of words either. Maybe I’ll start writing them on the palm of my hand.
nathan // July 3, 2009 at 10:36 am |
Thanks Jeeves.
nathan // July 3, 2009 at 10:36 am |
Sarah, thank you for the kind words.
wayne // July 3, 2009 at 5:23 pm |
so nicely done nathan
James // July 5, 2009 at 1:06 pm |
I love how each word is presented as an incredibly vivid and unique image. I especially like “pleasant” as “a riot of umbrellas through the village / of donkey-headed men.” I agree with the previous commenter, a whole dictionary’s worth of this would be very cool.
nathan // July 5, 2009 at 2:25 pm |
Thanks Wayne.
nathan // July 5, 2009 at 2:26 pm |
Hey, thanks James. I wonder if my innate laziness would prevent rewriting the dictionary. Maybe not. I’ll have to try it and see.
Deb // July 5, 2009 at 7:28 pm |
Truly brilliant, Nathan. Loaded and inventive.
“Night” is my favorite, although they are all eloquent and thoughtful.
nathan // July 5, 2009 at 11:15 pm |
Thanks very much, Deb.