If You Could Taste Words...
I wonder what the world would be like
if you could taste words a flutter in the air
like the particles that allow us to smell
but instead have them land on your tongue.
If you could subsist on a diet of flattery,
dine on a buffet of egotism,
go blind in the sultry sweetness
of the gentlest descriptions of affection.
Or maybe they would taste as they were;
maybe they would taste honest and cold
as a melting snow-cone when melancholy-hopeful;
maybe they would burn in the aggression
of a compressing star like a void made peppercorn;
maybe they would make you wretch as a liar's
hidden agenda would always taste like shit
no matter how pretty the things they said,
or maybe when you'd try to lie to yourself
you'd only end up vomiting until you stopped.
I wonder what truth would taste like.
I think perhaps it might be bland
(something like bread)
but only because it's been known to wound
as much as heal, and what you'd choose
to spread it with would make the difference.
Even in a world where you could taste sentiments
there would be at least that deception I'm sure.
And I wonder how many flavors there would be,
and how much hatred of personal taste,
and how much longing for that same taste.
The more I think about it
the more I wonder if this world
isn't so much different than that.
Still...there are a lot of words I'd like to taste.