Contributor Series 6: A Currency of Words
Fission
By Ray Sharp
Written words are stable atoms, elemental units
of meaning that bond in thought molecules,
but when we talk we emit radioactive isotopes
prone to degradation, hot charges that burn
under the skin. How long is the half-life
of a lie? How strong is a lethal dose of insult?
Could you stand to wear the weight of lead
or would you sooner brave the fallout, naked
to the chain reaction of a critical mass of words?
Especially Borges (May 2010), published as part of Contributor Series 5: Dramatis Personae, was Ray Sharp’s most recent poem to appear at vox poetica.
Oooooo. I like this one very much!
Very powerful.
Love this! Especially half life of a lie 🙂
Yes, I’ve known the difference between the written and the spoken word, but never as you’ve imagined it for us. Thanks, Ray. I trust speech even less now. Give it to me in writing, my cynical self replies, in unmutatable words.