Enter the Liquid Word

by Paul Edward Costa

If hurt business

is a label for boxing,

    emotional hurt business

is my term

for crafting poetics

out of inner experience,

      throwing clenched words,

                      carefully wrapped to last,

                      against opposing wills

meeting where a professional fighter’s performance

    on press conference microphones

    or in calling out opponents

                                post-victory,

                                can alter all career prospects

while a good mastery

          of literary arts

          is the difference between

the direct, telegraphed aversion

in yelling Your opinion means less than dirt,

and the deceptive proximity

of a punch from one inch

by politely saying instead

that Your entirely untenable preference is noted.

Paul Edward Costa is an award-winning Canadian poet, spoken word artist, and teacher. He is a full member of the League of Canadian Poets and a former Poet Laureate for the City of Mississauga, Ontario. He has published many poems in journals such as DarkWinter Literary Magazine, Drunk Monkeys Arts Journal, and Blank Spaces Magazine. His book of poetry, The Long Train of Chaos, was published by Kung Fu Treachery Press. His book of prose poetry and flash fiction, God Damned Avalon, was published by Mosaic Press. As a spoken word artist, Paul has featured at many poetry readings online and in-person across Canada and in the U.S. such as The Victoria Poetry Project, Shab-e She’r, and Port Veritas Poetry out of Portland, Maine.