Dictionary Elles

Posting the poem that is in the Hessler Street Fair Anthology, 2016 (edited by John Burroughs and published by Crisis Chronicles Press) as well as in this author’s poetry book, Three Breaths just for you, Jane.

Dictionary Elles

 

Lewd, lascivious, licentious, lustful, libertine…

Who found them?

Was it Christy?

Karen?

Or, perhaps, another?

No matter, we learned them

Different words with subtle nuances

All with the same meaning

 

We knew them, used them

We were the Dictionary Girls

Virgins all,

Dateless on Saturday nights.

 

We believed our teachers,

The ones who said,

“If you use a word ten times,

The word is yours forever.”

 

And we made them ours,

Lewd, lascivious, licentious, lustful, libertine.

It became our mantra; each having her favorite

 

Mine, licentious…

I loved the sound, the feeling of it in my mouth

Feline, lithe, lean, and smoldering,

A svelte woman in a skinny black dress.

 

We’re grown now,

Having lived the lustful life of the mind

Still Dictionary Girls

…and have become, in turn,

Lewd, lascivious, licentious, lustful libertines

At times.

but mostly we are just

Dictionary Girls.