Wild Words

Wild Words

Wild words, feral words
skittering across the slick floor,
claws clicking,
baring their teeth,
drooling on the sill,
barking at passing leaves.

Corral them, don’t tame them,
their wildness gives
your poem energy.

Fear is for sissies
hiding behind mama’s skirt.
Scoop your arms full,
words that wriggle and squirm
like 2-year-old toddlers.

Smear your face with them
like springtime mud,
luxuriate in them,
wallow in them,
roll and slide in sensuous abandon.

Brazen words
scorch the page,
light fires in the heart.

--Barbara Malcolm