Page 26 - flying stones

what is proper diction

what is proper diction?

can you imagine a fiction more devastating

to the child’s joy of talk?

a child corrected hangs back
and cowers: a broken toy jack-in-the-box,

lacking the want to spring to the attack,

to wobble wildly until the listener
recoils in surprise or laughs.

why should they chastise disjointed,
uncalculated, careless speech?

innocence, once startled, is forever lost
and can never be reteached.