The Death of the most Pronounceable Word
It is now, in this unwanted advance,
in this honorable game of chess;
that the most pronounceable word
the unopposable decree of checkmate—
of noncompliance—
is the most intimidating announcement.
As the slow crescendo of a mournful piano
hypnotically enforces tone, it was
as normal as turning the volume up,
inoffensive compliments thrown into the conversation;
as ignorable as a pillow moved, laundry swept under the bed.
Paranoia—of course—
had brought such encouragingly unnoticeable
actions to attention, a supernova
of dazzling cannon fire
and the memory of poisonous, scarring hands.
But desperate to feel normal,
to not think the worst because surely—surely-
this time wouldn’t be another burn,
another searing slap.
It was unwanted, unobstructed,
inescapable as his demeanor changed.
Always the same smile; that cannot
express care nor caution,
perfectly assured in its nonverbal
noxious assumptions.
The word i have known
since i was a child, had used daily, now
burns behind two pairs of lips
tracing unnoticed fire down my thighs,
trailing in the sweat from my brow.
The monologue is inescapable,
noisily condemning my
inoffensive wishes, my frozen lips
that cracked with the knowledge I had assumed
would not fail me in the most
dishonorable situations.
Yet here,
there
and now
it lay unused, unnoticed, unobtainingly
frozen in the snow that poured from my clouds
Of relative noviceness and naivete.
It is the unnotable, common
normality
in the death of the most pronounceable word.
About this poem
As someone who has constant experience with my consent being violated, I wanted to write a poem about the word No without actually being able to say it, as I often find myself doing in real life. Almost every line has the word No in it hidden inside another word, it wont let me bold them as i did in my docs.
Written on April 26, 2022
Submitted by emmalynnerard on April 28, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 3 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPMMQRSTUJMVWXYZXM1 Y2 3 V4 5 XM6 7 J8 C |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,522 |
Words | 262 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 46 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Death of the most Pronounceable Word" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/125743/the-death-of-the-most-pronounceable-word>.
Discuss the poem The Death of the most Pronounceable Word with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In