and there is that nerve-clenched feeling
and that pinchedness that hunches on the tongue
not sure how to respond
and all the taught phrases flit by
so trite now
citrine-sweet and bitter
and all the grooves where feeling is supposed to reside
have worn down on sandpaper time
too many tongue fitting around the shapes
smoothing down that texture
and all the feeling that could have fit in those grooves
has no home now-
and the words are reduced to merely their names
and grasping at these words i find them blunt and worthless
but there is a reason they have been so verbatim-
tried and true,
so now what do i do?