Words that Sing Poem Series - I Want Words

Art and photo by Dawn M. Hamsher, 2013

1st Writes did a study on "words that sing". It takes time and practice to find just the right word to get your point across.

 

For fun, we asked our writers to write a poem about words. I will share the poems this week. Here is the fourth one.

I Want Words

by Dawn M. Hamsher

Sometimes I want words that propel me through a story as I hang on to each breathless page,

Words that roll, barreling down a mountain, only to be swept out to sea, as I scream.

Other times, I want words that grow moss and lay in quiet woods, ones that hear their own heartbeats.

These words tumble dry on low in my mind and smell of fresh air and sleeping newborn babies.

When I’m feeling frisky, I want words that crunch under my toes and splat on the middle school ceiling,

Words that play hide and seek and Red Rover and break the rules, skateboarding down the halls.

When I love, the words should squeeze too tight and linger too long, leaving a lasting impression in the cement.

Those words need action that boils over, not watercolors, but permanent oil paints, splashing on canvas.

In anguish, I want words that break and falter, with fat tears that drop on raw sewage.

Those are words that beg for release, griping iron bars after receiving a life-long prison sentence.

No matter my mood, though, I want words, all of them, heaped up in my backyard.

Words to sort through, to savor, to discard. Words with buttery fatness and words that crack like eggshells.

Yes, I’ve decided. I want words.