"Slough of despair."
We should make it a Halloween exhibit.
Watch people who have never been for real
mime shrinking back, shivering and rolling
eyes that peer through masks they put on
to cover masks they never take off.
I digress.  Intended to get in right off
that readers for whom English is new,
slough rhymes with slew,  not slow.
Some will tell you it is a coincidence.
They are the same people who joke they
are"slayed."  Those of us who've been forced
to howl for help pulling ourselves out know
the joke is on them.  Slain and slaughter
too apt.  Lived to tell, wasn't the slough's
fault.  (Even I  laugh when "slew of us"
pops to mind.)  As for despair, shouldn't
have air.   Muck can easily suffocate.  
"De" at the beginning short for Devil?   
I have got to get out of here!   Go buy
a discount skeleton and neon-orange string
of lights.  Maybe a rubberized black widow
looks like it is spinning a fire-resistant web.
Who knows?  May meet a friend.  May see
an oak or maple just put on a killer red
dress laced with gold.  Slough may dry
while I am gone?  It can happen, I hear.
Now, about that exhibit. . .
..    

 (c) Phyllis Jean Green, October, 2009