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Contributor Series 6: A Currency of Words, Apology


10.08.10 Posted in Contributor Series 6, today's words by

Contributor Series 6: A Currency of Words
Apology
By Stan Galloway

Give me back the words I spoke
that stung you like a hailstone
in the rain. I don’t know
where they came from,
what imp urged
the battle in my tongue,
some malevolent,
invisible,
unwanted spirit.

Give them back so I can grind them
into powder and dispose of them
in one grand flush
or mad triumphant flash of fireworks,
this time for good. 

Give them back
because they did not
represent my heart–
a heated tongue
extended from a neutral brain,
a moaning of insensible wind
in a Rocky Mountain storm,
destructive,
meaning nothing.

Give me back the words–
oh–if you could only
give me back the words.


Cell Sense (June 2010) was the most recent poem by Stan Galloway to appear at vox poetica.



4 Responses to “Contributor Series 6: A Currency of Words, Apology”

  1. bobbie troy says:

    Powerful poem, well said, and something we can all relate to.

  2. Hearfelt poem. Told with poise and yearning.

  3. What a beautiful outpouring.
    So many apologies are the type that begin with I’m sorry, then there’s a but….

    This was the real thing. A mature apology beautifully rendered. The listener would have to be made of stone not to forgive the speaker for the now regretted moment of anger.

    Lovely work Stan.

  4. Stan says:

    Thanks, all, for the gracious and encouraging comments.

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