New Mexico Mercury

the c is as insidious
as a paper cut
as pleasurable as a paper boat—
if you happen to know how to fold
one and let it ride

the u of it lies between your legs
look down lovingly
lucky you if you happen to have one

pet it if you will
pet it as if it is the pet
rabbit your mother
never let you have

the cunt is absolutely
not a bomb
it will not hand-grenade explode
your skull open like a cantaloupe

brain matter writhing against
the wall behind your head

it will not shred your hands
to lace if you happen to finger
the trigger every now and now

the cunt is
most definitely
a bomb

you may strap it to your chest
and there it will reside like
your own personal rattlesnake

do not attempt to rob banks with it

Do however –

tell your boss that you own a cunt
(you have the receipt to prove it)
and watch how on the inside
he faints like little boy blue

Do however –

tell your teacher that you can spell cunt
that if you happen to extract letters
from the available alphabet
and arrange them in a certain fashion

this is what
you get:

C-U-N-T

the cunt is not a rude house guest
soiling the kitchen towels, sneaking
bacon scraps to your arthritic dog

the cunt is not a rapist
nor a necromancer

because Webster says it so
cunt is the most disparaging word
in the English language

it will make men
both want to fuck you
and bash your face in

because of this they are fire engine
red-faced
and embarrassed

because of this
you should wear it
like a good perfume on
the soft side of the wrists

which is to say the n
forces your tongue to the
top of your mouth
causing you to bare
your teeth ever slightly so

Nnnnn—

note that the t is the marvel of it all
tying everything up
in a neat and tidied corset
like a coin purse

or a straight jacket

Here are some fun things you too
can do with the word cunt –

Google it and it is insured
you will have hours of fun

hold it to the sunlight
like your favorite kaleidoscope

create a word search
in which every word is
the word cunt

reconcile the word cunt
by writing a poem no one
will ever publish

challenge yourself to define
the word cunt to your nine year-old daughter

rack up a triple letter score
next time you scrabble

translate cunt en espanol
and impress your folks
with such tonguetastics as –

chucha
choncha
cucha
cuca

and the ever masculine version –

coño

there is nothing
more sensual than
a cunt who can wear a tilde
like a party dress

recall that the cunt
yields great power
which is to say
it will scare great many
a people

one last
recommendation

scrawl the word cunt
on one hundred and one
small pieces of white paper
each a small and distinct snowflake

insert into randomly selected books
located on the shelves of your
favorite library

walk away and wait
watch the fallout
for years and years and years
to come

the word cunt
will float
back down to earth
like confetti
or a deafening
ash