Words Grow Oysters Go Down

Words Grow Oysters Go Down Words grow on barbed wire On acid rain with sugar droplets They sit on foreigners tongues assembled Numbered and fermenting Difficult to pronounce Or say in public Words never come easily Buying vowels is expensive Consonants too solid for the air around them Stay heavy. They end there, untouched Some words never fit the mouth And remain unborn Language seedlings grow in nations Cultivated underground like mushrooms Tasting damp and dark Natural words slip away Down the throat like oysters There are no words for that