#50: How Heavy is a Word?

how heavy is a word?

i have heard them called cheap

but how heavy can they be?

how light is a song

slipping out in single breath,

how heavy is a slogan

whispered in secrets on the internet

when people refuse to call

things what they are

for fear of causing a stir

i can’t help but wonder

how heavy is a word?

whether it is history repeated

and advertised under different names

or a future nearby, depleted

how easy is it to forget

that stories aren’t just

things that people say?

if it was a gram or a ton

the paper, stacked or burned

how long till we remember

the tense shoulders that used to have a word

i find it striking, so absurd

how we focus on grammar

when language alone

is being ripped out of the world.

but will you find the strength

in your tongue? your hands shaking

as you type? will you be the one

to put sentences back together alright?

i doubt any of us can do it,

we’d rather use them for a prompt

we stutter and we stammer

until our languages sink into algorithm

our poetry all stomped.

i can feel it in myself -

the last embers of a song

and though i remember all the tunes

the lyrics are long gone.

we give in to our pictures

of sunlight on the sea

of islands and the mountains

of the minutes still, that we feel free.

but we shy away from lines

from saying what we mean

because that would cause a w*r

and other words i’ve forgotten how to read.