You say
words cannot wound—
this is part
of your business model.
You insist that they last
only in as much
as the moment endures
in a photo.
And it's true,
one by one, the odd syllables
are spoken,
with only the most current note
striking in our ears.
And yet, somehow the last
does not quite vanish (as it should)
to make way for the new;
each becomes a stitch
in a funereal suit
you are sewing,
a gaudy swoosh
in the corporate logo
which now threatens
to outlive you.
