Expression

Jane Huffman

The dilemma
is one of expression.
My expression,
my cough, speaks for me.

What I want
to express is very little.
I must express it
over and over again.

My cough,
my expression, speaks
for me. A little blot
of phlegm in the mind.

I must express it
over and over again.
When my cough
is productive, it shakes

a little blot
of phlegm from my mind,
an idea from the back
of the throat.

When it is unproductive,
it wakes me,
a compulsion
without the clarity

of compulsion,
an idea in the back
of the throat.
My dilemma is expression

without clarity,
compulsory to me
as my cough. What I want
to express is very little.