eureka

when my words

wander off notepad pages

to onomatopoeic jungles

and i hear

the creak and crackle

of adjectives alliterating

between branches and brambles

assonant alligators swimming

in light dappled rivers

under banyan tree arms,

personified into jumbling

phrases, pontifications

on connection

the sun peeks through

canopies of metaphor,

a simile of a lemon

spilling juices, bubbling

golden to blue skies

above the warm

treetops

and my words

march across my desk of

crumpled paper balls

tucked haphazardly by

drained fountain pens

my joints pop with my stretch—

session over, and i, the general

with ink-stained hands, of

artillery adjectives and

saluting nouns smiling:

every word a quiet

victory