passage

in this languid landscape where
language fights to survive
i wander from word to word
stumbling through the rough syllables
of slow minds and thick tongues
i scan the land by neatly measured foot
climbing every iamb
tumbling through valleys of verse
hoping for some passage or rhyme
to quicken the heart and excite my life with lines
i can recite and lift with my breath
something soothing
to cease the tortured sentence