Mouth: To Say

Lisa Ampleman

To say a word, we put it in our mouths. 

        It may roll between the teeth 

 or hum on the palate（味觉，上颚）. Love, after all, starts 

        on tongue against teeth and ends on lips. 

 To communicate once meant to take communion. 

        I take the wafer（薄饼） into my mouth: 

 speech. Silence as it melts on my tongue. 

        Your speaking hums in your chest 

 when my ear is to it. There's a wasp nest 

        under my porch. They fly home at dusk, 

 but you know how to suss them out. 

        And in my kitchen, plaster cracks on 

 one discolored wall. Is it water damage? 

        Is the house settling? You put your hand 

 on my wall, say It doesn't look like water --

        (water, which begins on pursed lips). 

 The cracked pipe in the wall seals up. 

        The glass of water we share is cold. 

 You kiss my mouth, which tastes like your mouth.