12 January 2009 | Vol. 8, No. 4

My Tongue Swapped Out

by ANN LINDE

I am telling someone else's story.

This is not my magnolia

tree, and these are not

my shelled pecans.

I eat them anyway.

/

A pecan has an east

and a west. Language is

left to one.

Wrinkles: tell your old

story of my

and otherwise.

/

When the magnolia bloomed,

she watered it with her

mouth. She shelled

words and spoke

their ridges.

/

Who slicks me into a story,

swaps a tasteless petal for my tongue?

/

You know your green,

and I know mine.

Join me if you like.

You have as much claim

to this shade

as I do.