Steven Schroeder 

Another Word that Rhymes with Shame

          
The same damn word that rhymes with got no rhythm but not with not
          to blame
That spells embarrassed for some parlor game but can’t recall how
          many r’s there are
The word that synthesizes every sin in whiskey on the rocks but
          makes it double
That fills whole Hawthorne novels never read but bluffed and called in
          conversation
Defines the introvert who wants to ghost from small talk but whose
          lurch says ghoul

Yet spoken upside-down and backward casts a cantrip that can turn
          left right
Becomes an anagram for hit the shot and blindfolded through pinhole
          ​hoops of flame
An artifice that builds a shield from a bullet and befriends the gun
          that sent it
A code to tell pit traps from treasures on unlettered maps and to
          unlock the crypt
The single word that means a flock of blackbirds and the means to
          sing their flight

Yet still this answer for the stolen riddle story ends in silence,
          awkward silence
Shorthand for wired-reflex card-mechanic prestidigitation bested by
          stick-finger irony
A foolproof mnemonic hook for your true name but mispronounced
          ​again you fool, you fool




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Steven Schroeder’s first book is Torched Verse Ends, and his second manuscript has been a National Poetry Series and Four Way Books Levis Prize finalist. Steven’s poetry is forthcoming or available from New England Review, Barn Owl Review, South Dakota Review, Drunken Boat and InDigest. He edits the online poetry journal Anti— and works as a Certified Professional Resume Writer.