I Thought the Moon Was a Lamppost

Margaret Lopez

(Recipient Dean’s Prize in Poetry)

Words slip
trickle from my tongue

& twist
assiduously.

I butcher the English
language beautifully!

I mispronounce sounds:
out of my mouth
the “r” (carnal)
resounds in Feb-
ruary.

Deciduous letters
shed accent.

I used to think
“brevity” and
“bravery” could be
used interchangeably.

I once said,
“Vastness of emptiness”
to describe life;
but that isn’t
what I meant!

And yet, you know
what I mean

(I think).