the language of refuge
January 18, 2010
Words close like doors into rooms
walls of white skin and silence
poems written and covered in leather
leaves bound in gold thread
high on laddered shelves
syllables cocoon around bodies
into a language of refuge
each new-soldered word
fighting the others for audience
whose history do these letters recall?
On whose grave does the tongue
of a speaker step?
What do beautiful words do?
Shelter us from outside view.
The key to any locked tower
is a word;
enclosed spaces promise privacy
if I learn your dialect
will you include me?
© 2010 tahminah zaman
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