Ablaut Reduplication
by Alan L. Birkelbach


Things must be in this order then:
Opinion, size, age, shape, color, noun.
And so on.

It is an easy enough thing to remember.
Sweet small young round brown bear.
The mnemonics of our lives.

Don’t say it another way.
You will be made to believe
that your stupidity unmeasures you.

Language is the leash that governs,
the belief in a flat Earth,
the harm of looking directly at the sun,

the efficacy of prayer,
stepping on a crack to save your mother’s back,
as if all your carefully worded love letters ever made a difference.





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