53rd Weekly Poetry Contest winner: The Dao of Scrabble™

by Terrie Leigh Relf

 
bag filled with smooth squares
letters and numbers
all lead either somewhere
or nowhere--both somewhere and nowhere
 
there are no absolutes
dissolve the antidote
with the poison
the poison with the antidote
they are the same and yet not the same
 
a vowel is not a consonant
but without it
the consonant may have no meaning
this is the way of scrabble
the way of meaning-making
 
the way of long into the night
when the moon hangs just so in the night sky
where crickets scrape out their song
the clickclickclick of word formation
the glideclickclick of† meaning making
the clatterclatterclink of tiles in a bag
 
as they walk labyrinths of meaning
the 10,000 blessings are these words
these words remind us to breathe through the night
these words that breathe us so that we may breathe
 
clickclickclickclick
clickclickclickclick
 
wild parrots screeching
on the electric wire at dawn
and what to do with three Ls and a Z
 
END
 
Note: Previously published in Origami Condom, 3 Nov 08

See all the entrants to 53rd Weekly Poetry Contest