words

The words emerged suddenly
out of his mouth
as if he were choking on a snake
that had unexpectedly begun
to slither its way out;
there were people standing around
and they clapped
as if it were a grand performance
but he was scarred
and he wanted to scream
or to cry
but instead he continued to choke
on his own words
until they finally fell from him
like little drops of water
onto the dry ground;
the few that struck his feet
felt like tiny ice shards stinging him
then bouncing off;
each word that came to the ground
lay there for a moment
winded and stunned
but quickly all of them began to get up
and to scurry about haphazardly
like ants will do
if you poke their hole;
they calmed down, one by one
and began to dig into the ground
until all that was left of them
was nothing but a tiny, insignificant hole;
now as time went on
they eventually took root
and not long after that
tiny shoots even poked up out of the ground;
as the years wore on
these shoots grew into full, beautiful trees
and from these trees, each autumn
their hung juicy words ripe for the picking
so that it happened one day
that having forgot that this was the place
where he had almost choked
and seeing a juicy word ripe for the picking
just before him
he could not resist but to pluck it from the tree
and shinnying it up first against his sleeve
he then bit off a big mouthful
and began to chew zestfully;
it was not until
he took his first swallow
that he came to realize
the taste was not sweet at all
but bitter and burning
for he was eating
his own words.

– matt at shadow of iris

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