Note: A perfect example of rough draft. I just realized I misspelled “deliquesce” in the first draft, which meant a total rewrite of the first stanza of the poem. Nice.

Poem 9

Crossword

By Michelle Garren Flye

Ten letters, means liquefy.

There’s that word.

The one I keep seeing.

Deliquesce.

A term from chemistry

But it sounds like more.

Like something sweet,

Almost romantic.

But it’s not romantic

When ice cream deliquesces,

Or steel, or even

A body.

Then it’s loss.

Destruction of property.

Decomposition.

Deliquescence.