Expression
By 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.
Source: Poetry (January/February 2026)