There are too many mouths
Flapping like flags
And too many ears
Sucking up whispers
Like a vacuum
Sucks the cat hair off the carpet

They get most of it
They do

So you'd best be quiet
'Cause I have a lot of friends around here
And everything you say
Bounces off me
And sticks to you

Even the murmurs
In the hallways
The e-mails you wrote
Privately?
(There is no privacy)
The words heard accidentally
Over the phone

The gossip gathers
Like dustbunnies in the hall
Like lint
On a winter coat
Like the hair
That clogs the shower drain
And needs to be fished out every now and again

It all returns to where it came from
It all gets back to the sender
Return to recipient, C.O.D.

But not before it arrives in my hallway
Leaves a mark on my coat
Makes my shower back up

So go home whisperers
Don't let it slip out
Like an old man passing gas
Don't fan it down my hallway 'friend'

I am tired
And crippled
And sad of words
That betray me

Put out your own garbage
Leave it curbside
And if you stumble upon it
Lying on the sidewalk, next to the grass
Resist the temptation to pick it up
(Pretty silver wrapper)
Just throw it away