Once Upon a Silver Tongue

I sharpen my teeth on all the words I keep from you,
rolling them to and fro in my mouth,
tasting every nuance,
every cadence,
so that even if they do escape
they are smooth as glossy pearls.
I cut my tongue when they gallop up my throat
demanding to be released
and I’ve no choice but to choke them back,
slicing my throat to ribbons on their descent, on every jagged crest and
uneven curve.
But even in their wake,
for you
I still bleed silver.

 

Author: ebonyandcrows

Hello and welcome to my page~ My name is Larisa--a very common Slavic name that was either derived from the Latin word hilaris, meaning "cheerful," or from the Greek city of Larissa, meaning "strong fortress." Born in Ukraine, I emigrated with my family to America when I was still a small child and now make my home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Growing up immersed in two vastly differing cultures led me to have a burning curiosity about people all over the world. Stemming from said curiosity, I have fallen in love with traveling to other countries, meeting new people and delving into their culture, exploring new cities, and of course, dining on the local cuisine! If I cannot escape into a different country, then my next favorite method of adventure is to lose myself in a spectacular book. I enjoy books of all genres--from fiction and novels, to biographies and ethnographies. As long as it captures my fancy and holds me spellbound the entire time, I will burn through the book like a forest fire! Because of this penchant for reading and travel, coupled with my love of deep and mysterious things, I have been often called a dreamer and I find the title suits me. With that being said, I invite you to stay a while, perhaps make yourself a cup of tea and linger through my posts and feel free to comment or share a thought :-)

78 thoughts on “Once Upon a Silver Tongue”

    1. Ahhh I love this comment!! Thank you! I am so pleased by your praise of this poem because by the time I rearranged the last word, I was feeling a little cross with the whole thing. It gives me pleasure to know that it is an enjoyable read, thank you!

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    1. Thank you a thousand times over, Isha! There is always this desire within me to spin vivid emotions into an enthralling flow of words, and I’m never quite sure I hit the mark because I can never climb out of my own head enough. Comments like this send me over the moon, so thank you so much!

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  8. I really enjoyed this – the juxtaposition of the pleasure of the words at the start and then the violence/harm later works really nice and made my throat sting. Thanks for sharing. T.

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    1. Aw you think so, Rob? 🤩 Thank you! I was writing some thoughts down in my notes yesterday and this thought came to me how I sharpen my teeth on the words I don’t say. And then the rest of the words shaped themselves around that line. Behind this poem though, there have been so many times I wanted to cut someone down with my words because of how this person was inflicting pain on me, but at the same time, I didn’t want to inflict that same kind of pain on them. So I would swallow my words back and speak with grace, even if it meant I would cut my own self on those words instead. Hence the price of a silver tongue. Whew, this was a long comment 😅

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    1. Thank you, Alaska man. You are not alone when it comes to disliking emojis. There are others here who share your sentiment. I don’t mind them because it helps to convey a sense of what emotion I’m feeling when I try to get a message across. I’m guilty of totally bungling up my messages and accidentally coming across as rude and inconsiderate when my intent was to tease good-naturedly, so sometimes the emojis come in handy.

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      1. I do not say; “Do not use Emoji’s” I just said; “They are distracting, from the Word Message.”, I have never found an Emoji in any Book I have ever Read! And I have read many millions of words, since I tossed the T.V. many years ago, what do I do with all of my Time? I read, I read Orion Magazine, the Economist Magazine, Lapham’s Quarterly, (The last Issue was: “Climate”, The best “Essay” Mr. Lapham ever wrote, and he has written thousands of Essays, which are Music for my Deaf, Old Ears……I.E.: “The Wish For Kings,”, “Imperial Masquerade”, The latest: “Money and Class in America” A Classic in the making! It is for any-one who loves a combination of Satire and Wit! He is even older than I am, and still Writing on! I wrote Him a letter telling Him how much I Enjoyed His writing, and He responded, and sent me a copy of His First Essay ever written, about $900 million dollars of Oil Money flowing into “Alaska’s Coffer’s” It made my Heart Sing, to receive a gift like that!

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          1. You will never be disappointed reading Mr. Louis H. Lapham! Suggest start with “Money and Class in America, the latest issue and go back-wards from there. Let me know if you enjoy it! I also have every issue of Lapham’s Quarterly….at least 60 issues, The last on on “Climate” is Volume XII, number 4…. Another book I love so much I bought 40 + copies at Abe’ Books, is “The Experience, A Celebration of Being” by Sireo Esteve, Random House 1974, that book changed my way of looking at life!…..Then there is my favorite book of all time; “The River Why?” By David James Duncan, A funny, fishing, Love story, best read aloud with your Lover!.I have also bought and gifted that book at least 50 copies! I also wrote to him and received a short note, and a Thank You from him! What is a Writer, without Readers, a lonely, broke person! Reading a Good Book, is the T.V. of my own mind, I do not so much see the words, as the Picture the words are Painting!

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  29. this is so good. 🙂 Bravo.
    makes me focus back to reflect upon times where I inadvertantly seeded hostility in one close by, for not considering their vantage point seriously (lost in my enthusiasms)

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