Walkout Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

well, letters just walked off the page I was only half way reading

they were tired of forming the word "change'

especially without any modifiers

more than sick of the word "revolution"

where were the colours?

the months of the year

the Book of Hours

with pictures, illuminated

and "ruminated"

can anyone hear me say this

or do they just dismiss

this regicide of words

ah, beautiful beautiful I said,

coaxing them back

and opal, and opaline

pearlescent

they began to stream, shyly, to the corner of the page

when all is said, ah, roseate, roseate

words started eating off my plate,

and it was gold

there's violet, eglantine when all is told

they started forming little alphabet hearts

and tuning up their strings

when I said: clouds, wings, the moon outloud

the shine on everything

and kingdom, kingdom, come

when you were young

and naming all the beauteous,

one by one.

mary angela douglas 28 june 2019