Bloody
by Alfred Corn
[ poetry - october 07 ]
Not ever used as an adverb over here,
in Britain it subs for "very" or "absurdly"
when topics get the speaker's hackles up.
A marker, too, for sex-based phobias,
the dread that slapped a grisly sobriquet
on Mary once she'd had her subjects staked
to serve as human torches. For not spilling
that same red sealing wax, your oxymoron
Bloodless Revolution gets good marks.
It also helps construct a rude tmesis
spat out by angries who've never heard the term
(see "over-bloody-rated" or "half-bloody-
mad"). And doesn't such bluff, slingshot lingo
find a rough equivalent in "fucking"
when speakers job it in for intensity?
Uncle Sam can hardly frame a sentence
that expletive abstains from. Burning ruins
mark eras when the world is bloody blood-soaked;
but the truth is always fucking hard to speak.
