Choosing Words of Vulnerability
I don’t have anything amazing to say. Words are not easy. Maybe you think all I have to do is reach up and pull them down from the sky?
Today, I think about words and for a moment I can believe there are so many, choosing one will not be too difficult. Afterall, I am caught between all the words previously used and all those yet available. I am curious. What they will add up to, I don’t know. Maybe something that happened in my past or lend itself to some future doubt.
It.
Such a small word, whatever it should be or is, a thing never started, is half built, or finished. It can be huge, it can be floated on a pond, it has no blueprint, it is what it is.
Too.
Ah, this three-letter word that many Americans don’t know how too use. To funny. To is not as malcontent as too, but in truth to doesn’t go far enough, it needs another ‘o’ to reach its destination, or amount. Fuck you, to, doesn’t carry the same verve, because to let’s it down. But, fuck you, too! There’s enough verve for you.
Love.
Is there a bigger four-letter word in the dictionary? Selfish as I can be, it was never a word made just for me. People love bloody bananas, or the Ferris wheel, love is a word that can be shaken up, cause quaking, anger, love is a gift for your mother. Love is a word that dies without dignity. Love can be a chamber pot on which people shit and cannot get off. Love can be a child’s rubber duck, but not a fuck. Love is a really, really big word.
Abuse.
There are fewer five-words than louder than abuse. It is a word that takes the shape of a fist. Abuse does not differentiate between human or animal. Abuse is a yell in a wife’s face, a spit on a dog, and is often encouraged by alcohol. Saying what one does not mean. Abuse is misunderstood. It begins small, can be funny, almost comic relief until it’s not. Abuse is a ventriloquist, one moment emotional, then financial, then threatening, violent, but never forgivable.
Advice.
Here’s a six-letter word to which I’ve been accused of never listening. While pieces of advice can be counted, advice itself cannot. A tutor can advise but not advice, whereas the same tutor can give advice and advise. My advise not to give advise doesn’t cut it without the ice factor. Why are these two words so difficult for some? Am I missing a usage difference in the American English? I can’t count the times I’ve seen the advise used for the word advice.
Writing.
A seven-letter word that is found on the wall. Being a writer is an allegation I could rebut, but not that I spend my time writing. Writing gives me peace. Moons wax and wane, trains arrive, depart, lives teeter on the brink, suitcases are packed and unpacked, bells ring in far off steeples but go unheard because of writing.
Thanks for reading.
