subtext

the embedded fear this language will fail

will disconnect from memory’s trauma

troubles the thoughts I daily swim within

like a leaf caught in an eddy’s dark swirl

each slurred word drops in its wake detritus

which echo into ever widening

circles like destroyers sending out blips

to find the submerged truth lurking below

how can one expect meaning to form out

of such sounds as these brief guttural cries

as if hands could be quick enough to grab

the sibilant darting of a snake’s tongue

yet still I write into the rising dark

as if somehow it will carry me home