Gratuitous

there ought to be
a good reason
to say fuck

nothing wrong with saying it
but when it’s uttered with the relish
an eight year old reserves
for eating a worm or saying doody
it kinda loses its thumping thrill

and motherfucking,
motherfucker,
ought to mean something
more than very

use it in a way
that makes me glad I heard it
and I’ll defend you to the death
against those who call
all such vulgar elegance
gratuitous

in the right place a properly landed
motherfucking fuck
is the left hook
of the sweetest scientists

but it ain’t easy
and it ain’t just
common speech

it ought to hurt
thrill
rouse
emphatically charge
and tangle any feeble response
like a bola thrown by one bad-ass gaucho
around the listener’s legs

and that,

motherfucker,

wasn’t
didn’t
and never will