1 There are too many words.
Drowning in words each day
2 Each day I drown in words. Moved by the patients silence he is able to understand
3 Once I sat with a man
4 each day for six month Follows this up with meaningful words, words that
5 and not a word passed between us spin like a web around him. What he could use
6 I’ve never forgotten instead of such words, is ‘just one word’.
7 how moved I was
8 by what he said…
9 What I’m trying to say
10 is that I have a need
11 now and then
12 to shake the words out of my hair.
13 All the stale and used-up words -
14 the frantic panic words
15 that jump out of my desk -
16 and the heavy meaningful words
17 that hang like curtains in the air.
18 The people who spin words about me
19 holding me tightly to them -
20 and the people who ll every corner
21 with urgent words -
22 every inch of my room -
23 closing the space
24 through which they may fall to nothing.
25 One word word would be enough!
26 Just one word He can consider and understand it completely
27 that I might hold it in my palm
28 weigh it By implication, be in a position to do more for the patient
29and know it.
Title: It is an opinion, when we know that the poet is a physiatrist, we understand that he has to
listen to people all day. He wishes there were fewer words in his consulting room.
Theme: People talk too much in trying to communicate, more can be said with fewer words.
Mood: Exasperation, weariness
