The Word Charmer
By Don Iannone

Cobra-like words
dancing on empty unlined pages,
Following their creator's hand
side to side and up and down,
Merging briefly with the hand
that feeds them,
Tempted at times to bite it,
then quickly dancing away,
At times, mouthing the words
with slippery pointed tongue
and thick red lips--so large
even the dictionary could hide behind them,
Releasing them finally like soft bubbles
drifting in thin air,
Charming hard women into ladies
and calloused men into well-mannered young boys,
Words snaking their way inside you,
making you squirm and shudder
as they fill your heart,
As they bring back the dead part of you,
buried long ago but never forgotten,
Beware the word charmer--
he becomes you and you become him.