Twinkling Eyes, Sinking Hearts, and Ruthless Stares

The ancient and invasive,
Pernicious weeds of language,
Enduring, fast-evolving,

Paradoxical cliches
Never get any credit
For stubbornly persisting

Nor for growing so diverse.
Shh, you must not mention them.
They’re weakness in a writer,

Spurge in a groundskeeper’s lawn,
Purslane, lambsquarters, pigweed
In a flower bed. They’re shame,

No matter how edible,
Their persistence your failure,
Your incompetence, your sloth.

You know what the world would be
Without domestication,
With all the gardeners gone?

Weeds. The most successful weeds.
Likewise wild language, the speech
Fore and aft of history,

Ecosystems of cliche.
Sit with a view of a road’s
Overrun margins. Ok.