You said, “how do you do that… with the words?”
I said, “well, I know the English language…”
You said, “but the way you use it, I mean.”
I said, “Everything is poetry.”
So, you sat down with your mom
and you had a tough conversation
At the end, she asked you-
“how did you say all that to me?”
to which you answered-
“well, I know the English language.”
She said, “but the way you said it.”
and you replied, “Everything is poetry.”
Your mom went to bed early that night
and thought deeply about the end of that exchange
She pulled paper out of her printer the next morning
and she started writing
Nothing in particular- a stream of consciousness
A friend at work found this paper
and she read it out of concern for your mom-
she had been acting off
She went to your mom and she said,
“I love what you have written here.”
to which your mom replied-
“well, I know the English language.”
The friend continued,
“Yes, but what you say with it…”
Your mother’s response was, of course,
“Everything is poetry.”
The friend from work mentioned that conversation to her struggling artist boyfriend
He scoffed, feeling belittled in his craft, yet newly inspired.
There was an open mic that night
and he unveiled a new poem he’d been working on all week
At the end, an audience member called out-
“That ******!”
to which he responded-
“Everything *****.”
Poem
Short story