The Dictionary of Obsolete Words
swells fat
with words discarded like dead skin
except where
stoic keepers of language
gone underground
whisper obsolescences to each other —
remember kindness one might say
such a lovely word
once there were even random acts of kindness
and respect another might venture
sounding out its strangeness on the tongue
r e s p e c t
was even a kind of anthem for women
heralded in song —
and on and on through long nights
furtive reverential
whilst they labour in their burrows amongst
reams of definitions
expansive meanings
embalming words to preserve them
antiquities to be saved
lest they become unspoken
muted lost forever
- David Ades 2017
David Ades is an Australian poet recently returned from a long stint in the United States. We could be unkind and suggest that he got out just in time.
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