Initiations

“Every word was once a poem” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, “The Poet”

“A single letter was a matter of life and death.” ~ Anne Michaels

The alphabets came late, like virgins to

A wedding feast. The clauses, words, and grunts

Of love were panting to erupt first through

The mouth and gullet. During spear-flung hunts

A need for clues and signals rose for life

And kill, but all of these were gestures, wave

Of hand, and finger pointing. For a wife

(Since women wanted more) inside a cave

The mouth began to move the vocal cords

And form wet consonants and vowels. Along

Came men desiring to be husbands, lords,

And tyrants. Early on, though, sounded song.

..Once poetry and music settled in,

….Words turned to contracts and to other sin.

~ Phillip Whidden