POETRY

When I Say We Have a Rich Language

By Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad     VOLUME 59 No. 1

Vertical Divider

I mean beyond cloying expressions of longing,
histrionic spills of the tongue to croon sorrow,
elation; it’s the expletives that are most appetizing,
insults cadenced with a spite so semantically
passionate, you have to applaud the inventors:
not even fit to exist between the base of walls,
an embellishment for a simple good-for-nothing;
a hissing retort of venom of snake to inject silence
in whatever nonsense was uttered, every comeback
composed with some kind of symbolic bite;
can’t even recognize salt, might as well insert
mineral acclaim when exposing an ingrate; rhythm
will echo even in contempt, in ugly, vulgarity
still verse, and I can’t even mention the worst
of it here; somebody’s beloved, next of kin
is always targeted for lyrical obscenity; harsh,
but what divinity in wishing the enemy a reunion
with earth, no shortage of dirt upon your head
and proceed beneath the mud; poetry prevails
still in malediction, transcends mortality,
may they whisk away your corpse cleanser,
gorgeous; if spirits aren’t safe from the verbal
brunt of misfortune, proclaim damnation like elegy,
may you be transferred from grave to grave,
to swear disruption to a soul; couldn’t help
themselves but cast lingual affliction
beautifully; so long as your line endures,
inscribed King Darius; endures it does,
the longevity of words born to meter, in praise
or profanity, in the sugarcoated hope
of I look forward to eating your halva, the rosy
dessert made for mourning, in the speaker’s growl
a bitterness, sure, but also a satisfying sweet
velveting every sharp corner of the mouth.

•     •     •


TO READ MORE POETRY, PICK UP A COPY OF VOL 59 No. 1




MEHRNOOSH TORBATNEJAD’s poetry has appeared in The Best American Poetry, Ploughshares, and New England Review, among others. She won the 2019 LUMINA La Lengua contest and the 2016 Pinch Literary Prize, and is a Best of the Net, Pushcart Prize, and Best New Poets nominee. Her work can be found at mt-poet.com.


VOLUME 59 No. 1