Throwaway Words Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

throwaway words should beam sonically in space

but throwaway words just hang around this place

in all the blue and green


no conversations to be seen.

i dreamed that words were rose leaf bright

icarian mode


and not the mintage of the bought and sold

three lilies sung for the world on hold

hello goodbye or who do you know


or weathervane summer or winter pane snow


its all the same when its on with the show

o throwaway stowaway go away words

what's the latest soup you've served


will gossip save us or the herds

that bellow through and ring the bells

to tell us it's not going well


and late at night I read the classics

and wear my fleece lined winter jacket

because the heat is running low


because the only thing they know

is throwaway throwaway words.


mary angela douglas 25 april 2020


the three lilies are a reference to a song sung in Shostakovich's Symphony No.14