The Language

JIM LAVILLA-HAVELIN

April 24, 2020

some phrases, all too appropriate, slipped into usage

and then almost universally applied

slip just as completely, out

when something happens –

Tim Duncan and David Robinson were

referred to as the twin towers, until

that September day in 2001

and then, never again

and now in a dark time of contagion and fear

no one seems to refer to something that is an overnight

sensation on social media, as 

having gone viral

watch for the slow drift of the

word – distant –

through the curve.

distant cousins, even anti-social ones

will slowly become

just kin

the world changes

the language adapts

JIM LAVILLA-HAVELIN is the author of five books of poetry. The most recent, WEST, poems of a place, was published by Wings Press in 2017. LaVilla-Havelin is the Coordinator of National Poetry Month in San Antonio, the Poetry Editor for the San Antonio Express-News/Houston Chronicle, and a teacher, critic, and community arts activist. He was the City of San Antonio’s 2019 honoree with the Distinction in the Arts Award for Literary Arts.