ALL THE KING’S HORSES

‘Through the Looking-Glass’. Illustration by John Tenniel.

How could we have known
when we were young
that verbs have a temper,

not like docile adjectives
hanging like ripe fruit
to be picked and used

in a line? Words come
easy these days,
some so overused

they sound suspicious,
like baiting horses
into the corral

with flakes of hay—
so often meaning more
than what they say.