Sedan

 

Is there anything more important

Than the pronunciation of a word

That when goes wrong

Draws a boundary as long

As the equinox

Between us?

 

The us

That I am not sure belongs to which we

The we of you and I

That sit a chair apart

With the smell of chalk and wood among

Or the we of they and I

Oceans and lands apart

With the smell of demon and blood?

 

How profligate for you

To use the f word

How prolific for me

Like the moon fruit

When it makes me write

I appreciate you

How far-off I feel

From the concept of home

In a room I have spent

Half of my life

Like a diva in her own cave

 

Could there be a line

We could all wipe

And feel like porcupines

That got hair cut?

Could there be a word

We spelt with L in the start

Before we stepped

Into a paragraph and got lost

In an argumentative essay

Of constant comparison and contrast

Could we both win?

 

You hear me

With your ears filled with wax

And your hands tied to the mast

And float away

Each semester

Leaving me behind

For another section

Of Writing for Engineers

Listen to me deep

You will not get shipwrecked

I am no Siren.

Mark my words

And mind not my accent

But the voice that is rooted

In a word that begins with L

And cares that you learn

So remember

The stress is on the second syllable

When you say Sedan