Patti Masterman (US)

Why be afraid of a knife in a word,
A blade in a vowel, or serrated syllables;
Why not admit that to live is absurd-
Or that though some live, some are barely able?

When whispered projectiles are portents of doom-
A glint of the eye, an upturned inflection-
And a thousand stings can live in one room;
If death is the end, life is the infection.