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Cul-de-sac Linguistics
- Prairie Schooner
- University of Nebraska Press
- Volume 80, Number 2, Summer 2006
- pp. 125-126
- 10.1353/psg.2006.0109
- Article
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
Prairie Schooner 80.2 (2006) 125-126
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Cul-de-sac Linguistics
Elizabeth Bradfield
Cul-de-sac Linguistics
Today, the boys call each other penis.
Hey penis, commere, penis, pass me the ball,
penis. Last week it was whore, discoveredhalfway through a game of h o r s e
on the mini-hoop that backs my fence.
And earlier this afternoon, the teenage girlswhose bedroom window stares
above my thumbnail yard improvised
outgoing messages in theatrical rapture:first the easy scatological, then
a nursery rhyme that morphs
into an anti-homo riff so suddenlyI actually look up
to see if they're directing this at me
(they must be), down in the yard, reading poetry
as my girlfriend weeds the flower bed.O, the high profanity of kickball games,
the rough posturing demanded
by even this tame street. Listen, they're learninghow well bastard fits with fucking, how ass
can't be mis-used. No one could hope to ease
their jagged entries into this profane world [End Page 125]which is fucking beautiful, ass-bastard gorgeous,
the evening light wild and soaring
like kickballs on a true arc into flowerbedsof penis tulips and pussy daffodils
that nod their heads in wild agreement
with the whorish, shit-loving lot of it.
...