Literacy.

  

Do words alarm you?

They shift and change meaning,

Alter spelling,

Almost as if

They are trying to trick you.

Sometimes, you run out of vowels

And realise there’s nothing left

To cry about.

So you go into debt,

Buying consonants,

Spending big on S’s, N’s and L’s,

But your mind is writing cheques

Your tongue can’t cash.

There are just not enough

Shelters for the wordless.

We must give literacy

Back to those in need,

Freeing entire generations

From bondage, from slavery.

Imagine that: to feel the joy

Of language returning

Like a lover

After an argument.

 

© shaun patrick green 2021