A/t fault

· by · in free verse, poetry. ·

Tread lightly on the edge,
collect your sense
as pebbles cotton-wrapped
to sentences, cause
whispered words
and silence both
are going to extremes
these days.

There’s a price to pay
for caesuras and
ellipses filled.

There’s a/t fault
beneath your feet.

Take care, my friend,
and mind the gap
cause words can never
be unsaid.

At the first clear word, Max Ernst

At the first clear word, Max Ernst

Today we write 55 words exactly at toads with the additional challenge of going to extremes. So much are happening these days that makes me feel afraid that words are really becoming to dangerous, and just maybe we have to fill our poetry with ellipses to avoid problems.

I will also link this to Poetry Pantry tomorrow.
—
March 5, 2016

34 responses to “A/t fault”

  1. whispered words
    and silence both
    are going to extremes
    these days

    This is very much on point, Bjorn. The whole world seems to be on edge, and everyone so quick to pounce on the slightest word misspoken. We are feeling it in our country, and I read of it happening in others too. Seems it may be best to keep one’s silence these days.

  2. Love the wisdom inherent in this, and especially appreciate the beauty in this wording: “collect your sense
    as pebbles cotton-wrapped
    to sentences”

  6. Nice the way you wrought this one. Even silence once praised for it’d wisdom of intent is in these times misinterpreted.
    “whispered words
    and silence both
    are going to extremes
    these days.”

    My favourite lines

    Much love…

  9. Once words are release into the world, they birth all kinds of thing… which many times the brain and tongue didn’t even imagine. What a brilliant poem. Love the whispered sense of caution, the way it values each word.

  17. Words cannot be unsaid – that is so true and I often think we must contemplate the how and why’s of words. You know what they say about he who casts the first stone. Once again I marvel at the
    depth of your message.

  20. Not only is this a wonderful painting by Ernst, but your poem adds so much new depth and meaning to it. And I love that awful truth of words, and the danger of ellipses. I use these a lot… I’ll have to think twice now! Great one, Bjorn.

  23. Damned if you speak, damned if you don’t, and perhaps even damned for your ellipses. I especially liked “collect your sense/as pebbles cotton-wrapped/to sentences..” that is so vivid and real a way of putting it. Sometimes you can sift through sentences for pebbles, and find only sand. That Ernst painting is perfect for this, and so much strain in it…

  27. An interesting and thought provoking premise. It is true that words can never be unsaid … though, mercifully, there is (at least) some hope of healing from them – eventually. I was going to say: I’d take the most vile, violent words over a bomb being dropped on my head. But, then again – one could make the case – these days – that it is the dogma of words that gets the bomb to the point of being dropped on heads, to begin with.

  30. words are magic, aren’t they? hanging invisible, gone at the moment of utterance, yet lingering in our synapses , bidden or not ~

I try to reciprocate all comments. If you want me to visit a particular post, please direct me directly to that post.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.