The Confessions Of John Tongue Poem by Raj Arumugam

the confessions of John Tongue (2 in 3 of the series: Tongue Poems)






1
I, John Tongue,
I have a confession to make:
I have an obsession -
an obsession with tongues;
not ox tongues like when you gather to dine
but tongues, actual human tongues in speech;
human mouths in their cave homes
like beasts in their lair


2
you see, when people speak
I sit before them
and am fascinated by their tongues;
I might listen to you, for instance,
and your words fly over my head
sometimes your spit in my face
but my eyes are fixed
on the tongue
that lies trapped in your mouth
and that darts in and out of your mouth
and that shows between your teeth
if you have some



3

I am obsessed I confess
and I sit like a Peeping Tom
waiting for a sight
of this most private muscle
that may suddenly burst out of the mouth
like a solar flare;
and I wait for a laugh
and the person throws the head back
and the jaws are open and the
sacred tongue is laid bare
for all the world to see
and that is a heavenly vision to me
a revelation, a miracle
equal to seeing an angel
or a Great Religious Leader
in a bullet-proof batmobile



4
and I love watching the news too
not so much to know what has transpired
but to observe the tongue of the newsreader
though some are very miserly with their show of their tongues;
but many have taken up this profession, it would seem,
to make a national or international show of their lingua;
and so you might well understand
I love TV too where all sorts of people
with all kinds of tongues
(that is, fat and thick and thin tongues
white, pale, gray, and red and pink and sickly tongues
red-carpet tongues and dusty dirty tongues)
make it their profession to tease me
with a display or concealment of their tongues;
and the cinema I love too
for similar reasons
and of course especially for the larger-than-life vision it offers
of the most glorious human tongue;
and though you might well imagine
I would hate the telephone
for I cannot see the tongue
you’d be quite wrong
for this is an opportunity for me to
exercise my very vivid imagination
for I can still visualize the tongue
in all its manifestations
and Oh, I love the telephone
for it puts the human tongue so Oh, Oh, close to my ear



5
ah, these then are some of the joys of the tongue
and this my obsession
but when we next meet
don’t please be so conscious
of your tongue as you speak
for I may not look
at your tongue
jumping up like a frog
from the floor of your mouth
and venturing into the world through your teeth
to determine what endangered species
resides within your mouth;
but I may have shifted my attention
to perhaps your diction
and enunciation
listening for crispness and clarity
and poking fun at any peculiarity,
so just relax, speak-publish, and be damned!

…but then, I may still be stuck in obsession on the tongue…











the confessions of John Tongue (2 in 3 of the series: Tongue Poems)