Word-wary

“Throw me a word,”

I tell a friend,

a friend's friend,

an invisible friend.

He deliberates,

I wait, impatient.

A new message,

“The word's word.”

No character, no person,

No emotion, no action,

How do I make a

poem of the word?

A words-wary

wordsmith, I am;

No word-playing

Wordsworth!

Ah! the wordbooks:

the dictionary,

the glossaries,

the thesaurus.

Terms, meanings,

definitions, uses,

verbs, nouns,

idioms and phrases.

Copious vocabulary,

I read, I imbibe,

but the words I want

don't come my way.