WORDS  BECOMING  FLESH 

AND  DWELLING AMONGST US

Poem for May 6, 2014

PERMANENTLY

One day the Nouns were clustered in the street.

An Adjective walked by, with her dark beauty.
The Nouns were struck, moved, changed.

The next day a Verb drove up, and created the Sentence.

Each Sentence says one thing – for example, “Although it

was a dark rainy day when the Adjective walked by,

I shall remember the pure and sweet expression

on her face until the day I perish from the

green, effective earth.”

Or, “Will you please close the window, Andrew?”

Or, for example, “Thank you, the pink pot of flowers

       on the window sill has changed color recently 

       to a light yellow, due to the heat from the boiler                  factory which exists nearby.”

In the springtime the Sentences and the Nouns lay                      silently on the grass.

A lonely Conjunction here and there would call, “And! But!”

But the Adjective did not emerge.

As the adjective is lost in the sentence,

So I am lost in your eyes, ears, nose, and throat –

You have enchanted me with a single kiss

Which can never be undone

Until the destruction of language.

© Kenneth Koch (1925-2002)