Sentenced to Die – Poem

By Magick

Our language is languishing

In the Land of Lies:

losing its nuance,

closing its eyes,

sounds bites nibble away

at the roots.

The last flush of meaning

pushes the envelope;

words explode in the glossy headlines

in the tasty adlines,

saturating the marketplace-

then used up, tired

gone without a trace,

Another word dies a meaningless death.

Words like infiniti and integra

can only be car salesmen

for so long

without burning out

selling out.

To fill the void our brain hangs

a “VACANCY” sign,

but no words apply.

They’re all down at the Corporate Ad Campaign-

selling the world

they’ve got a job ‘til they die.

The number of suicides among words

is rising at an alarming rate,

The word alarming hardly surprises

anyone anymore

and is

about to go on strike.

But the unions are powerless

because no one keeps their word,

And no-one knows where one went

so the center cannot hold.

The Hangman’s game is almost over

The death sentence is pronounced-

the word owners have enslaved

the very feeling of the words

(which will always in some way be love)

Squeezed it out like toothpaste

Brushed the last taste away,

the last root is severed;

Language: Langua, Lingua

Tongue, Tongue, Tongue is cut out,

Linger: to lick, lick,

no way to lick it, the pleasures

cannot shout.

No one can talk;

nothing to talk about.