adjectives
anonymous
I go to
meetings
tell my story
with lurid culpable details
admit I am
powerless again and again
come home
sober and resolved
to let the
concrete speak for itself
but in short
order pick up a pen
and as
doodling becomes poetry
I begin to
crave the liquor
of bloated and
fuzzy adjectives
to place in
front of every noun
storm through
the house
for the
Thesaurus hidden in the towels
the synonym
dictionary stashed under the sofa
the pocket
version in the light fixture
or the OED disguised
as a Bible
I’ve even
resorted to a rhyming dictionary
in a paper bag
I’m ashamed to say
I’m beginning
to think it’s hopeless
this
distasteful debauched life of words
endless shades
of meaning useful to no one
even the
sessions on adverbs
seem wastefully
superfluous
how many have
I hurt by this fondling of modifiers
how many
children bear lifelong scars
does it really
matter
I make amends
with palpable intentions
hope for
spiritual awakening
the concise
brevity of delete and backspace
then let go
serenely accepting
the varied and
subtle things I cannot change