I Have Your Word

The Agriculture Department
proposes to remove “hunger”
for more accurate, “low food security.”
What is a word?
Does it matter if you are blind
or visually challenged?
Or can words blind us from
a more tragic reality?
When murder is liquidation, and when
the death of innocents
becomes collateral damage,
do our words reframe
or ignore truth?
In today’s doublespeak,
ketchup is a vegetable.
Considering the theological,
to eliminate a sin, simply rename it,
the stealthiest of verbal absolution.
What is a word? A test.
It is our language
which reflects our souls.