doubt

Searching for the most condign word to describe my current sentiment, but I'm left without a semblance of a word or an imagined understanding. Consternation, perhaps. Loss, possibly. No word seems to suffice. This feeling comes and goes, like J Alfred Prufrock's women that "talk of Michelangelo."
Maybe it is doubt. Must be.
A glimmer of doubt, and I am emptied.

a thought

i stumbled across a thought. it was as light as a fingerprint that travelled the dust-infested leaves of Paradise Lost only to collapse in depth, deeper than the sleep of death. it has become an obsession of mine to play that thought like a piano note that blossoms in medias res . nothing is but what this thoughts is. i wanted to possess it, but it seems to have possessed me.

silent films

I’ve recently decided to use silent films in class, and I have to say, I’ve fallen in love with silent films, especially those directed by Fritz Lang. I’ve found that silent films speak to a much wider audience than any modern film can, which is most fitting when teaching EFL/ESL as these films will communicate to them beyond the sign. I plan to show them a scene from a silent film once a week, and will ask them to either summarize what they feel took place or write dialogue for the characters--to fill in the spaces, so to speak.

an abandoned thought

i’ve taken account of everything, so careful not to offend, not to tread the wrong ground. the edits, cuts, bruises and notes strained with brown tea -- staining a vacant lot-- sit in the cool darkness of your shadow. this is not because of your fragility but my own.

peripatetic observation

as I was rushing to catch the train, while putting on my gloves, an inebriated stranger said to me, “you walk the walk of love.” i ignored him as I searched for my transit ticket in order to validate it in time. then, i began to think of his ambulatory remark. what does it mean to walk the walk of love? does the season play a role? the bees buzzing or the snow skipping? how about the time of day? the sun soaring or the skyline submerging? or is it solely in the eyes of the observer, distant, speculative and under the influence of, um, some song in his head.
though i don’t think it was/is my style of walking, if anything i walk the walk of feigned urgency: always in a hurry to get nowhere.

Alzheimer

there’s a rope, motionless, tight as a snake, under the blanketed tree, though it’s spring

there’s a thought, skipping over seasons, keen to make you smile, though you are misty

there’s a light, sputtering, beneath your eyelids, that I’ve worshipped, though only in my sleep

there’s a scar, flawless, sharp, beating against my flesh, though the story is a fable I can’t remember

sometimes we must endure our own haunting silence, when words are held captive by waves that carry the carved notes of someone’s passing, now deteriorating in the shimmering waters, letters dissipate and clarity collapses against the pale, concrete walls without windows.

in a hurry

we’re always in an absurd hurry that we don’t take notice of love: pale, luminous and free, dipping into the glistening black water

sigh

i can imagine defeat tasting like warm rain
falling on words seized by a whirlwind
leaving your mouth dry in a battle field
filling the room with dim ghosts
echoing the past in a present sigh

irksome words

There are many words that I love, but a few that irritate me.

interesting: It doesn’t really tell me much. I want to hear something more descriptive; what exactly do you find interesting.
You betcha: Palin played a role there.
No offense 1. This doesn’t diminish the offensive remark which has been perpetrated . 2. Implies that I should be offended, even if the statement that followed wasn’t offensive.

Rural, vocabulary, thatched, thwart , thrice: I can’t seem to pronounce them correctly.

addicting (I don’t mind addictive though), Bush (the ou sounds makes the sh sound rather harsh and it carries unpleasant associations) , cockroach (I dislike them), dank (brings to mind a tank and mold, for some reason), Cheney (I imagine chains) , serendipity(why should we have the word pity when speaking about something pleasant) , terror/terrorize (seems to have lost all meaning)

Babe as a term of endearment.

Are there any words, expressions, cliches that irritate you? Or words you love?