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Susan Cowger

Art & Poetry

Art Poetry

Molecules Bump

by Susan Cowger 3 Comments

         
My husband tells me how molecules bump together. That rock I toss in the lake shoves out a ripple that doesn’t stop when it reaches land. Bump against nudge, it continues through the densest bedrock.
Around the whole world it goes, eventually arriving back smaller but persistent like memory.
     
I’m thinking about words and the rhyme “sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”
      
The impact hits me every time I read it. How can something so true be such a lie?
Of course, no one tries to be an irascible fool, blurting out blatant untruths. No, it’s the double entrendre. That other meaning you forgot to think about. That sarcastic edge you didn’t realize was hiding under the period.
     
Think more, talk less. They say body language speaks the loudest of all. Ah yes, who can forget that first kiss! But so little of our lives take place in person.
       
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September 20, 2009 Blog

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Craig and Bethany says

    September 23, 2009 at 7:04 am

    Haha. Totally agree about the periods! (Notice the friendly exclamation in the last sentence.)

    🙂

    Reply
  2. Pig Woman says

    September 21, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    Reply
  3. Craig and Bethany says

    September 21, 2009 at 4:15 am

    Makes me wonder what kind of ripples, intended and not, I will leave. Maybe that's why our kids turn out most like their template-parents despite all urgings to the contrary. In the end a student, when fully grown, becomes like their teacher. Is this more a function of proximity than influence? Or maybe influence is the natural result of proximity. You become like who you're around. The natural exchange of ripples.

    Reply

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