Ample in Success

He dragged out the cardboard box. His words—
Well, the borrowings he’d used the most—

Ready to serve. As a collection
Of points, words are surprisingly bland.

They feel like discrete, loosely gathered
Small objects, just the sort of items

You might let pile up in an old box.
Only as phrases can words sometimes

Crack like whips or seize hold of the world.
Sentences have fans and also serve,

But phrases. . . . Here’s where power and beauty
Curve. He dusted off his box of words,

Considering where, in its heaped mess,
He might find the cancel to distress.