Curses

Of course the other animals
have language: the bats
humming together under the eaves
before they fly out
to darken dusk;
the cat purring in her basket,
the old dog howling
at sky.

Our peculiar human
spoken language
is our especial gift
evolved over millennia
to bestow on lesser creatures,
slow drivers in the fast
lane, and stubborn
doorknobs.

Scrabble

The old man has a suture in his scalp.
This time he fell against a corner
of the table. The dining-table stacked
with bills to pay, where the dictionary
still lies like a testament to cross
words. His wife is dead these 15 years.
She always beat him, she had the way
with words. His last best score
was OBNOXIOUS.

The game’s packed away now in a carton
in the backroom, with other artefacts
of 40 years together; relics
of ancient civilization. You could
dig it up and try to decipher
backwards, the way he’d try
to solve a puzzle. Putting pieces
back together jigsaw.
His life.

-- Taylor Graham