There are many beautiful words
wedged between what we discarded
and what we have lost. Words bringing knowledge
to the unsophisticated so they may be
          as lost
                    in sophistry
                              as we.

There are many beautiful words in this poem
including harmony
          transmogrification
          conifer
          undulating
          crosstabulation
          misanthropy
          and bittersweet
but its original intention
is to deceive you into believing that words
are not beautiful. That the human mind
is not capable of sustaining the wonder
that lies on the tongue when such words
pass by and bless it.

There are many beautiful words in this poem
including scintillating
          Magyar
          bouffant
          antediluvian
          furlong
          diphthong
          and thistle
but its original intention
is to make you remember the odors you favored
as a child. The smell of fresh lemon peel
or of sweetly-scented birthday candles.
Of the prized uncle’s cigar
or the apples that fell ripe
          from the tree
                    into your hand.

There are many beautiful words in this poem
including tapestry
          divination
          insectivore
          cuspidor
          protoplasm
          bicuspid
          and molar
but its original intention
is to cause you consternation (another
beautiful word) as you think of the blank spaces
between them. Of your mouth’s emptiness
as another word rises and waits to fly from it

dreaming that you will send it to a distant mountain
to shimmer in quick harmony
with the wind in the snow-frosted trees.

____

This poem sprung out of me shortly after I buried myself in the words and etymologies of a new dictionary I was kindly given. I originally composed it by speaking into a microcassette recorder while walking briskly, then tried my best to not destroy that moving rhythm when the time came to push the lines onto a page. The "beautiful words" in the poem will, I hope, feel vaguely sensual on your lips when you pronounce them aloud with your eyes closed.