Shantih Journal | Page 38

70 Words per Minute

by Patricia Walsh

Siphon off your typewriters

Eject your last floppy,

take the first bus home

and practice your shorthand.

Your mouth was the stuff of legend,

the woman behind the sound-byte,

no one could exactify your story,

not even on a whim.

If I had the blood and guts to do so

I would justify your query

an understanding not realized

not that I would care to admit.

It's all sewage under the bridge anyway.

I long to drape you around my neck

even if I dig at my own funeral

I am reassured by past injuries.

That is my secret to be deleted.

Your eyes, green like local scum,

Circumnavigate my presence, good as gold

your arms wrecking the common good

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