THE FLAVOR OF WORDS

"I eat words! Delicious words! I gobble the words that you make. Words like 'rod' taste like turds, but 'billow' tastes like cake." Bo Burnham

I am a fan of the somewhat old TV show “Boston Legal.” James Spader plays the part of lawyer Alan Shore, a lead part in the show. I think James Spader is a superb actor, equally talented in comedy and drama, which has nothing to do with this article, but just thought I would share.

In one episode of Boston Legal, Alan Shore experiences a bout of aphasia -the loss of ability to express speech coherently. In real life, this is a serious condition, but in the show they found a comedic twist to it and referred to his non-sensical verbal meanderings as “word salad.”

At the time I first saw this episode years ago, and still today, that expression - word salad - brings to my mind something entirely different than aphasia. Instead, “word salad” makes me think of how words taste when we speak them. You may be thinking, “She’s lost her mind; words don’t have a flavor.” Respectfully, I disagree. Today’s poem is a bit about that.

[Photo credit to dreamstime]

A MOUTH FULL OF WORDS

Mundane.
Mundane.
It’s one of those words,
those words, you know,
words that sound like what they mean,
but not in an onomatopoeia way,
not like, you know,
”Bang” which is explicitly bang!

I know you get it.
How your brain can just
conjure up a feeling from a word
that worms its way in through your ear,
a word like mundane.

Mundane is so dull, and, well,
mundane,
it rolls out of my mouth
all lazy and dull
and slumps off my chin,
just a lackadaisical dribble.

Not a bit like twinkle.
Oh, yeah, twinkle —
makes me think of stars
makes me wonder what they are
twinkle twinkle little star.

Twinkle sparkles on my tongue
like 7-Up
giggly bubbles
bop down my throat.
Twinkle makes your eyes glitter,
right? Yeah, right.

Not sludge, though.
No.
Sludge.
Ugh!
Just to think it makes me gag.
My brain fills my mouth
with oozing, brackish goo —
You must be choking too
Just reading this, right? Yes.

Sludge
feel your teeth
coated with slimy muck
smell it
taste it

I know you do.