Tongues

Poem

This poem was formed from a surreal monologue I wrote. Through that piece, I stumbled across the idea of using tongues as a bizarre, gross, humourous but interesting vehicle for shared humanity. It seemed poem-worthy.

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Tongues

Tongues are funny old things.
A wet little arm we keep inside our mouth.
That's normal, of course.

They are slimy air traffic controllers
For the food inside our head.
One that we sometimes shove down and around
Somebody else's mouth. 
For fun.

An elaborate complex of heterogeneous tissues
Helping launch our thoughts into the world.

And as babies, our tongue was better than our vision.
In fact, we navigated the world through Tongue!
Licking the table as much as the food lying upon it.

I've started to think babies are rather wise—
Because to reach understanding
We have to open our mouths,
And taste the world round.