holiday treat

I was running through some old material this week, and I ran across one of my favorite poems, by Heather McHugh. Too good not to share!

Language Lesson, 1976

When Americans say a man
takes liberties, they mean
he's gone too far. In Philadelphia

today a kid on a leash ordered
bicentennial burger,
hold the relish. Hold

is forget, in American.
On the courts of Philadelphia
the rich prepare

to serve, to fault.
The language is a game in which
love means nothing, doubletalk

means lie. I'm saying
doubletalk with me. I'm saying go
so far the customs are untold,

making nothing without words
and let me be
the one you never hold.