Tonight's Poet Corner: A Response To Having Both My Words And Intentions Completely And Utterly Warped

A Response To Having Both My Words And Intentions Completely And Utterly Warped
by Belinda Roddie

I'm not sure why, when our conversation's
over, every word that I've crafted so carefully
like hot metal gets returned to me all scrunched

up like aluminum foil, unrecognizable. I try
to uncurl the syllables, but they're beyond
mending, and I can't remold them with my

teeth because chewing on aluminum foil
is a bad idea. I don't get it. You have this
weird image of me. Distorted like a painting

from a horny Picasso, his eyes glazed over
at the thought of sticking his callused,
oil-stained fingers where they don't belong.

The sentences I speak are skewed as soon as
they are propped up on stools. They're slanted,
struggling to remember what they actually mean.

I have to admit, if you've branded me as
the Devil, then you've given my sloppy cunning
way more credit than it actually deserves.