Meaning of a Word Poem/Etymology

Multiple Meaning of a Word Poem

Explore the multiple meanings of a word. Check out dictionaries and encyclopedias, including the O. E. D.

Example:

Unsystem the System

BY KIMBERLY GREY

WE DON’T SAY we are armed when we mean
our arms. We don’t say
                          we are armed.

Though our arms are real,
             they are really arms,
                           and we could use them
to disarm ourselves now.
             We could use them
             to squeeze or hold or load
                          not a gun, not a gun,
             please not another gun.

But maybe a face that needs holding.
Or some laundry
             that needs folding, like that other night
                         when I faced you, pulled your shirt
             over your arms and heard you say,
                          everyone deserves this.

And I didn’t know if you meant a shirt
or arms or just someone
             to pull it off of you.
                         Someone to touch
             your free skin, to see the face
when a shirt leaves it, in good awe.

Awe, which sounds like
             Arms. Arms that could be
                            are they sometimes only just these
blasted and beautiful extensions—

Lover, I’ve said so much. World we have not said. No
             we don’t say armed
             when we mean our arms,
though we are armed. Though we are, all
                          of us, perfectly armed.