Opposites:

Nothing is actually black or white

not hot or cold

not rich or poor

or male and female

there have always been cultures that have understood

things are different by degrees

but just as there is no final croûton of matter

that cannot be divided any further

so too in language

all words can shift in stance

like young colts nervous before the race,

a shuffle due to circumstance

not concrete definition.

I can be rough and smooth,

depending on a comparison I make,

hard and soft words

share sounds in the same sentence

and even a word like outside can be both

good and bad

but our minds find it far simpler

to create particles out of words

rather than waves

I have a hand that can choose

to hit or caress

a mouth to kiss

or spit

its the structures we construct

not the words themselves

that count in this dualistic charade

we create.