20. Taliesin Says “Yuck” (15 months)

 

                     Taliesin Says “Yuck”

                          (15 months)

 

Primordial word, the milk word, the word milk makes

erupting, ee-EE-YUCK!, word that

minces no words, true

at one end as it is of the other, yUck!,

the kids’ word, understood at once,

at once understandable, Yuck!, first distance of distaste

crossed, first wry gap sparked, EE-ee-UCK!,

the first bellylaugh word as he watches his father’s face make it,

the final poison word, word that works

when danger’s edge is no place to be playful,

YUCK!--and of poetry

an original word as well, word whose commencing capital

and emphatic closing punctuation are contained within it:

midnight, carried bump-at-a-time downstairs, wailing

against his own body’s betrayals, nevertheless he remembers

in midcry to interrupt himself and get out

the word to be said at such times, “yyyYUCKyyy!”--

to no one in particular, just to say it.