Owning the Language

S.J. Perelman
took the tribe’s words
one by one
for himself—

He grabbed the witty
and the beautiful,
greedily lusted over
by bourgeois eyes

and petty word crims
the underworld over.
He stole the valuable
and the treasured,

we got left with
the dull and the
worthless, the discarded
sequined fakes

loved by Vegas and
nowhere else.
I hastily wait for
the collapse of

literary communism
so then I too
can become a word-mongering
capitalist marketeer

page 158

Corking the Sharp Objects

1.
Wherever you go
there you are.
The dull ache
manacled to your heart
follows you around.

2.
Your lie stretched
from ear to ear.

Your lie stretched
taut
ready to snap.

Suddenly
your smile collapsed
with the recoil.

3.
Darned
like an old
sock.

You’re still
quite
serviceable

I’d say.