If It Ain't Broke...

IF IT AIN’T BROKE…

There are times in writing when only the wrong path leads to the right answer.  Sometimes we make choices in grammar that are wrong, but that is the way it has to be because it just sounds right.  For example, when I titled the poem below, I realized that technically it should have been “Easily Broken,” but that just didn’t  work.  It was too expected.  By substituting the word “Easy” instead, the adverb was changed into a noun and the pivotal action had a place to happen.  A lot of writers and editors would say that such word play is just a cop out.  They see the limitations of language as merely the rules that govern writers.  Of course, there are a lot of writers out there who are experimenting with different ways to shatter the rules.  Why not?

 

EASY BROKEN

so easy to go from down to new.

so fast to put aside the past

like a sack of dried up tunes.

so easy to blast like a rocket

from zero to zipping

across a plane of black

wearing only my nighttime mask.

so easy to crash back to earth all spent

from so much sparkling.

 

and it’s easy to want that cool so hot

to coax yourself from not

to maybe not today…

to maybe not

 

not as hard as trying to hold on to desire

like eggs broken open,

spreading liquid across your palms.

not as easy as bursting

into a million smiling pieces.