Four Letters

The neighbor asked through the screen door,

and the word slid out before I could stop it.

A smooth, flat stone of a word.

Then the faucet hit the curve of the spoon,

a sudden, cold ambush of city water

soaking the front of my work shirt.

I stood there in the kitchen,

the damp circle widening over my ribs,

grinning like a man who isn't

currently drowning in a shallow sink.