Conversation

Clitoris.
Oh! Oh no! read the apology on my face, my friend
It’s so common a word, I know
Yet I cannot, at this moment, recall its meaning
Yet I cannot, at any moment, claim I know its meaning.

Do not glare at me, do not
let me see disdain flicker in your eyes
So what if I have never used it in a sentence?
I know what lummox means and that you think of me to be one

I knew what procrastination means at thirteen when
I had mentioned it as my hobby in a class-mate’s slam book
And crepuscular was what I whispered to myself
Before I began day-dreaming during school recess.

Ah! Do I see a ghost of a smile on your lips?
Just like the one I had seen on my mother’s when
One afternoon I had asked if she knew who a valetudinarian is
And she replied that she did not.

Do not smother your laugh please
For I am not upset at all, I
Who slept with the lexicon by my pillow
Who called a bully curmudgeonly once in the playground

For I never have indeed looked up the meaning of clitoris.