The Four Letter Word by Amy Cotter

I dare you to try

and not to say it.

Difficult, isn’t it?

Even I,

who hates to say this word,

have problems

trying not to use it 

in a sentence.

It is so easy

to pick this word,

with the multiple meanings

that it can entail.

Applied to pop culture

and literature of all kinds,

the l-word sneaks up on us all.

But that’s the problem,

this constant use

diluting the true meaning

of this word.

Arguing

that the true meaning

is lost, is futile since

the definition

is so diverse when asked.

Challenge yourself

not to say it.

That is my sole message for today.

Cherish the rightful meaning

of this word

in order to bring happiness

into the world.

 ________________________

Poem of the Day: Multiple Sclerosis

BY CYNTHIA HUNTINGTON

For ten years I would not say the name.

I said: episode. Said: setback, incident,

exacerbation—anything but be specific

in the way this is specific, not a theory

or description, but a diagnosis.

I said: muscle, weakness, numbness, fatigue.

I said vertigo, neuritis, lesion, spasm.

Remission. Progression. Recurrence. Deficit.

But the name, the ugly sound of it, I refused.

There are two words. The last one means: scarring.

It means what grows hard, and cannot be repaired.

The first one means: repeating, or myriad,

consisting of many parts, increasing in number,

happening over and over, without end.