If words were just germs to be disinfected, my mouth would be very clean. I am so quiet.
There isn’t a syllable for miles in my maw. Save that mouth wash. You on the other hand
are an auctioneer, a debater. I have never heard anyone talk so fast in my life. You must be
a speaking super hero. Speaking for you must be like a horse race. There is the horn! Go
words, go! Run free like your ancestors out west! I do some mental checking in. Nothing.
If you are a debater, you must have a nice suit. Did you actually tell someone you were
going suit shopping? “I am going suit shopping today.” Even your mundane is slick. Your
transitions are a rapid fire attack. Every question is an open and shut case like Criminal
Minds. I do some mental checking in. I have marshmallow mouth. Only my hand can
move fast. Unite brain and hand mixology like the Wonder Twins and dream on in literary
synchronicity love. Insert rainbow and unicorn explosion here. Five finger salute to word
page gush. Fireworks. Back on the sound home front: will my words be pulled out like
teeth or so many magician’s colored handkerchiefs? Green and purple for the nouns. The
verbs will be Prussian blue of course. The conjunctions, those uncommitted joiners will be
mint green. The adjectives will be white rabbits. My mouth: the hat.
Jennifer MacBain-Stephens has poems published in Superstition Review, Emerge Literary Journal, Red Savina Review, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Burningwood Literary Journal, The Apeiron Review, Dead Flowers: A Poetry Rag, Star 82 Review, and Iowa City’s 2013 Poetry in Public Project. She has poems forthcoming in Rufous City Review, Thirteen Myna Birds, and Eunoia Review.