Words are absurd.

Words can stick in your throat,
particularly the ones
you can’t get in edgeways.

Or words can teeter on tenterhooks
on the tip of your tongue
(until someone comes to take them
right out of your mouth).

Sometimes you can even have a word in your ear.
Imagine, a word in your ear!
If it was one like onomatopoeia,
you might struggle to hear.

Words can be slurred.
Words can be blurred.
Words can be misheard,
the listener deterred.

Words can fail you,
utterly.