Words
and more words
filled the world
with discourse
diatribe
and declarations.
Would there be
no end
of words
with lack
of meaning
and
mean
babble
blabbing
forth
senseless monologues
in endless
harangues
and lollygagging
in the dark?
I set forth
in search
of a place
devoid
of such blathering
twaddles
of words.
Toward
the city gates
I flew
in search
of a peace
without
words
I knew
existed
beyond
the glum
of endless
civilized
chatter.
On the way
there were
guards of words
guards of gossip
guards
of gibber
and guards of jabber.
Is it the
Katzenjammer kids
you want
to chat with?
said one
of the guards
in mutterance
forthwith.
I'm just trying
to find
a place
of peace
without
the
confabulated
loquations
the cackled
recitations
and chattered
reservations
I said
in my search
of peace
without words.
Do I need
a pass
to get beyond
this land
of buzzing
befuddlement?
Where are your papers?
said the man
of lawful
words
whose
articulation
and revelation
of his communication
conveyed
not
a bit
of wit
in his ranting
forth
of demands
for a
license
to hold
forth
in discourse.
I insisted
I needed
no
such license.
Neither
did I need
his protracted
blabbering
in spoken words
about written words
on licensed words
of permission
to prattle
forth
with words
lacking meaning
lacking depth
and lacking
even
a modicum
of humanity
or sanity.
You have
no license
to create
words
of elocution?
asked
the man
of idle talk.
I need
no
idle talk
to question
my expression
I said
to this
word guard
whose guardedness
had so
constricted
his mind
and convoluted
his sputtering
that his stammering
and
hammering
on the license
for words
conveyed
utterances
long
and utterances
that belong
to days
of constricted
thought
regulated talk
outlawed expression
and outdated confession.
You wouldn't
be
practicing
poetry
without
a license
would you?
said the gateman
protecting
society
from those
who think
for those
who think
they think
when in
reality
their thoughts
conveyed
in words
become
the restriction
of all
the constriction
in pretention
of thought
beyond
words
behind
laws
before
guards
of words
whose demand
for papers
with words
convey
no more
thought
nor value
of converse
than the dignity
of communion
it's supposed
to
protect.
I don't have
a license
to practice
poetry
I said
in
declaration
of my cause
of poetic
pertinence.
But I do
have
a poem
to practice
license
I said
to my
consternated
opponent
whose society
he's trying
to protect
is
no more
poetic
nor
protected
than their laws
pertaining
to the proper
proliferation
of poetry.
What do you
expect
to find
beyond these gates?
asked the man
of idle thought
of imagined stature
and fallacious talk.
I expect
to find
the absence
of idle talk
the disappearance
of invaded
words
and a rest
from legislated
voice.
You won't
find
that
out there
said the uniformed
enforcer
of conferred chat
whose chittering
and chattering
were as cold
and regulated
as an oration
on dictation
dictated
by a
robot
retarded
in grace
and retracted
in face
of all
that
is worthy
of integral
discourse.
We've extended
our laws
of words
as far
as the mind
can
convey
thought
said the man
whose alleged
thought
pretended
to convey
thought
about regulating
thought
lacking
all
such
thought
it was thought
to protect.
He added
furthermore
that his rules
of nevermore
would ensure
the safety
of all
those locked
in the land
of loveless
lore
and keep
communication
safe
from all those
whose
elocution
threatens those
whose evolution
is guarded
by the word
police
appointed
as they are
to keep
the mind
in
check
ready
to arrest
those
whose words
and ideas
would
cause
folk
to express
on their own
without
the written
permission
of controllers
of words.
Pray
tell me
I said
to the man
of little thought
if your
land
is so regulated
if the
words
are so negulated
why are
there
so many
words
of commerce
invading
my privacy
demanding
my attention
and offering me
products
I don't
want
services
I can't use
in an assault
on my aesthetic
sensibilities
with an avalanche
of words
so unrelenting
it
boggles
the chance
to answer
back?
Oh
this
is the price
we must pay
said the enforcer
of
words
in a voice
reminiscent
of totalitarian
regimes
bent
on the collection
of words
whose meaning
and power
have lost
their intent
having bent
their entire
force
toward enforcement
of all
that is communicated
for those
holding
the
power
while withholding it
from those
who don't.
This
is the price
we must pay
he said
for living
in a
society
whose goal
is to protect
commerce
from those
who
would put
a higher value
on expression
over livelihood.
Why
pray tell me
I said
in my perturberance
must you put
such value
on words
of commerce
over words
of thought
on
words
of lucre
over words
of soul
on words
of wealth
over
words
of love
on words
of greed
over words
of life?
You speak
too many words
said the man
of regulated
words.
I speak
to preserve
what is left
of truth
I said
to the man
whose words
of law
would drown
out
words
of all
that
is worthy
of pronouncing
words
of meaning
words
of depth
and words
of soul.
I'm afraid
you'll have
to come
with me
said the man
of
simple
words.
I'm afraid
you'll have
to listen
to my words
said I
to the
man
who despised
words.
Tell me
where
the words
are stored
I asked
the man
of
force.
I'll have
to force you
to come
with me
said the man
at a
loss
for words.
Your words
are not safe
said the man
whose force
of
will
knew not
the will
of words
nor the words
of
force
beyond
his limited
force
and his limited
understanding
of law
license
and elocution.
You'll have
to come
with me
said the man
of regulated
thought.
You'll have
to watch
me flee
said I
in thought
of his
regulation.
You'll have
to curb
your tongue
said the man
of law.
You'll have
to tongue
your curb
said I
in defense
of words
without law.
He came
at me
with force
uttering words
of law
words of
power
and words
of contempt
for words.
I said
here's a word
you haven't heard
man of law
whose mind
is raw.
I tripped
his step
in his enforcement
and he lay
in the dirt
of his word
regulated
town.
I gave him
words
to comfort
his troubled
soul
in confusion
of words.
Words
are eternal
I said
as he lay
in the gravel
of his
grovel.
But law
is infernal
I added
to his consternation
and regulation
in his dusty
dirt
of despair.
And I left him
lying
there.
