Tonight's Poet Corner: G Word

G Word
by Belinda Roddie

You ask anyone within a five mile radius
of you, and they'll have a different response
as to what the "g word" might be. Don't hint at it.
Simply provide the censorship, and the listener
will mold the language in the privacy of her own
cortex, like hidden wax building within an ear.

Some people will say, "Gay." Others, "Genitalia."
Others still, "Gringo." Maybe even "Graduate."
Because it's graduation time, of course, and it's a
big, scary word, "graduate." Means you're
going places. "Going" is another word
that could be a g word.

Personally, I like "gangrene,"
"giraffe," "gremlin," "gabardine."
"Gabardine" is a personal favorite.
But most of all, the g word could be
nothing but a superlative, one that some people
are too afraid to overuse and others are too into
using on everyone: "Great."
Just freaking "Great."