Living Words in Willow

Henrietta Jones considered herself to be very plain.

She liked sunny weather and disliked the rain.

Henerietta was shaped like a rumpled blob.

Her crumpled dress made her look like a slob.

Her ears stuck out and so did her nose.

She had stubby caterpillar fingers and larger caterpillar toes.

Her stringy blonde hair hung straight and out of place,

Right into her oily and pimpled plump face.

But there was one single thing that made Henrietta feel grand,

Her pen pal, Zilla from Willow who wrote special letters by hand.

The words had a magical way of dancing on the page,

Or burning right up when Zilla expressed rage.

And Zilla had invited Henrietta to Willow,

So, here was Henrietta, fresh off the train with her bag and her pillow.

The train station was brightly painted in yellow, red and white with green trim.

There were flowers painted on the walls that tangled into one giant stem.

The station was loud from many people talking and moving from here to there,

But what was special about Willow was Henrietta saw the words in the air.

A couple in the corner in a heavy conversation,

Had words come out like anchors, thick and dropping to the floor with each exclamation.

One man in a brown suit and brimmed hat stood behind a woman walking away,

His words reversed into his mouth to chew on and spray.

Three younger girls

With blonde bobbing curls,

Stood in the center giggling in their conversation.

Their short quick words came out like feathers that floated while they made light of their situation.

A couple of men stood in hooded sweatshirts and heads tilted closely together,

With their words coming out as fat and dripping from the juicy gossip that kept them so tethered.

One shocking sight was the child that had words shaped as a dagger aimed at his brother,

Words that can wound someone, and quickly reprimanded by their mother.

A young set of girls with t-shirts, baseball hats and grins,

Had their words bounce between them as words just between friends.

There was a couple dressed in clothes that were fine,

The boyfriend had wisps of smoke words whispered to his love so divine.

A toddler told his mom in words very large,

He was a big boy, with big words, so he should be in charge.

And an older couple who had just walked in,

The man was walking away, as the woman’s words hit a dead end.

And around the corner with silken red shining hair,

Was Zilla with words that blew trumpeted fanfare.

As Zilla approached Henrietta with a hello and an embrace,

The word hung around for a while and encircled Henrietta’s happy face.