It’s always the R
it never flows easily
the friction: a failed somersault on my tongue.
Broken
between three languages,
my sentences play games.
Words negotiate
between them:
THE one,
the borrowed,
…and the inferior.
Subject in one
verb in another
object in the last
keep switching…
Come again?
Each language is at odds with the other.
One is for climbing
for paperwork,
to seem fancy,
to seem not local:
moral and superior.
The borrowed is for barter, to mediate
to belong, to justify:
rational and acceptable.
The inferior is primal,
masculine:
aggressive and savage.
The switch
never comes naturally.
It’s the R
the confusion between V and W,
animating the A:
short, long, broad, schwa, rounded.
Translating
from the savage to the moral,
from the rational to the primal,
from the superior to the acceptable.
Meaning and thought
don’t matter anymore.
The right code
at the right time.
That’s the secret.
Bio note:
Taha Munir is a writer and an academic who has taught across universities in Pakistan. He is a Fulbright scholar, has a Bachelor’s in Literature, and an MFA in Screenwriting. When he is not grading, he performs standup.
