Victorclaude
Victorclaude
Jan 16, 2011

dusting dictionaries

dusting dictionaries

three dictionaries
Random House unabridged,
Oxford English,
and an old Webster
on a shelf --

being removed often --
perused --
best reading material
in the house

rarely need dusting --
they don't stay in one place
long -- always being used

dust is one of the words
found within them
soot, smut, powdery dirt,
very small detritus

dictionaries care not what words
inhabit their pages
lexicographers do

no dictionary contains
entire lexicon of any language
to gather dust

within them
some of the words are dirtier
than dust

rape, murder, war, hate
are but a few

sure takes dust off the hot-seat
of impurity.

vcp

16 January 2011

About This Poem

Editing Stage: Not actively editing

About the Author

Country/Region: USA

Favorite Poets: Wallace Stevens

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Comments

R

raj

14 years 3 months ago

Good one Victor...dictionaries do mean a lot even the online ones which gather no dust...i use them often...but i hadn't looked at them the way you did very creatively...made a good read..

Victorclaude

Shirley,

Even your remarks are clever, and make my day, or early morning as it is now.

Love,

Victor