Open vs Loose Words

my father loved words

their sounds when spoken

how they looked on a page

when he wrote a note

one letter sliding into the next—

each word, he said, plays a role

he knew arcane words, simple

words and those with complex

family histories and pedigrees—

he said to find the apt word

you need to soul search

words, he said, tell the truth

but sometimes people choose

words as a way to alter

or masquerade the truth 

when a politician says  

some people 

live with food insecurity

we mean that they

know how hunger tastes

to say food insecurity

camouflages the truth 

with loose words—