Some of my Favorite Words

were written by dead people*
(now) in Mississippi,
ordinary words
like you and I might use
to tell a story.

 But in the hands and mouths
of Faulkner, Welty and Haynes,
they spin out like
a sparkling web from a spider’s butt.

And though I hail
from there as well
I know I will never
write my favorite words,

In a poem, a letter
or even some long novel.

*I dont think Melinda Haynes is dead.