We had words
Big words
Words with sharp consonants
Barbed hooks that tear the soft flesh out of your throat
Words that fly out of your mouth and circle overhead like seagulls
Who feast on binscraps and bombard sidewalkers with unwelcome splats
Words
We had words
Eye popping vein throbbing temperature rising words
Words that ricochet against the walls of your closed mind
Like the deathlead heat of a thousand rounds
We had words
Words that are furyflung and meant to wound
Words that don’t listen for responses
Carpet bombs that blow conversations into smithereens
Words that thrust and parry
Pointed words that slip deep into unarmoured flesh aiming for the heart
We had words all right
But it’s not all
And it certainly isn’t right
Those words were poisoned
Toxic words
Words that initiate chronic conditions
Flesh eating words
Whose wounds grow larger instead of smaller
Never scabbing over with the promise of a new thin skin
But become suppurating angry ulcers
And the only treatment is amputation or exile
So just saying that we had words
Is a little like saying a rape victim had sex
Those words had us when we had them
Because sometimes words do become flesh
Bleeding, infected, painful and mortified
If I could take them back I would
And maybe it would have been better to cover my ears
Walk away in retreat
But we had words
David Trudel © 2013
createdavidt 
Unfortunately, there are people who call this communication. They do it to people they are suppose to love, in front of children and even to their children. Having worked with abused children and abused adults the scars from the words are often the hardest to heal. Some never do.
Thank you!
Thank you – it’s been a long time since I “had words” with anyone but the phrase came to mind and this poured out. For me the key line is “Those words had us when we had them”.