Writer shares poetic take on negotiations - Tom Leduc

There seems to be a lot of negotiations going on in this city of ours lately, whether it’s between companies and unions, husbands and wives, children and their parents or even simply negotiating with ourselves to find the right answer. I wrote this back in August of 2009 and I’m thinking it might help some people with whatever difficult decisions they are wrestling with at this time.

Negotiations

You mince your words
all shredded letters and tears
It chips away at my teeth
Stinks up my breath
Leaves me pacing the floor
with a double edged tongue
Thrashing my arms about
pounding at my chest
It’s like scraping eggs off a pan with you
Go whittle your words at
the end of the driveway
Kick up the dirt and inflate your chest
We’ll throw rocks at each other
till we take our eyes out
So go ahead call up your shepherds
Let the cattle stampede the tents
Let the bullies roam free
Accuse the accuser
and charge at will, because
Red is everywhere
Sulking in our streets, hanging above our heads
Digging in deeper with every breath
Amend your phrasing, shift your weight
cautiously circle the written word
Reveal your hands, palms out
and dance with the devil at the table
Haggle with the gate keeper
Barter for bits of your soul
Offer your eyes, offer your boots
pieces of history, pieces of tomorrow
Fall to the cutting room floor
Add it all up with your poisoned pen
smeared promises across the pages
Burn your pride in a barrel
Lock it in a desk drawer
We all eat our words
Let them curdle in our stomachs
let them roll off our backs
When the ink stops flowing
When the dialogue breaks down
When red takes over
the stain that’s left, is borne
only by our children

Tom Leduc
Greater Sudbury