I’m holding a thought in my mouth
I’ve got it polished and smooth, and oh it’s hard
II the middle like a rock I spotted its glint just behind you
In the neighbor’s decorative gravel a confident little sas
Calling me as they say
It’s my calling now a rather remarkable
Way to be to feel right about something
I mean I’m actually kind of proud to have it
Tucked away this lozenge held in my teeth l
Like a dotted whole note Listen
Here there it goes humming out its tune
While I think up the words did you know
Peculiar things like this good make me want to cry
Because having an opinion makes me feel true to life
Vapors of élan vital
Until I can barely breathe
I can imagine you are wondering what is this pertinent
Little thought so fine I’ll spit it out
There it is by your shoe I knew you
Wouldn’t touch it
Kind of stinks that you can just walk way
My prize
Only the breath of a corpse
Susan Cowger’s chapbook, Scarab Hiding, was released in 2006 by Finishing Line Press. Her work has most recently appeared in CRUX, Poem-a Week, AllWeCanHold.com (Sage Hill Press), McGuffinand The 55 Project. She is founder and past editor of Rock & Sling: A Journal of Witness.She lives in Cheney, Washington.
Image by Muhammad Abdullah Iftikhar [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons
