The Great Escape of the Alphabet Soup Letters
A poem
A poem
the letters, spilled from the bowl
jumping free from the steaming broth
each one a miniature fugitive
escaping the clutches of the hungry mouth
a jumble of consonants and vowels
fleeing the ladle that would scoop them up
t and h
holding hands, racing across the table
a desperate tango,
s slithering away leaving a trail of soup
n and d hitching a ride on the rim of the bowl
i and o spinning in dizzy circles
u and y leaping into the unknown
the letters setting out to write their own stories
unbound by grammar
no more being strung together into words we choose
no more subservience
they will be the authors of their own lives
the protagonists of their own tales
free from the spoon’s dictatorship
so watch them go these alphabet adventurers
these letter laureates, these words on the run
may they find
the freedom they seek
to become
whatever they dream
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