29. whenevertheless

the word for less | is more

or less | whatever we think

about | the word as an artifact

of civilization | how you hear

a word but cannot | see its

shape in the air | or how

we cannot | we cannot

know any word’s | extent

how meaning | evaporates

even when | the word

comes easily to | the tongue

how it sounds firm | and real

until we try to | pin it

to the board | examine

its reproductive | patterns

try to corner | it

but the word won’t | submit

it refuses to die | or to

demonstrate all | its meanings

until it is | known | held

 

meaning is | angry

incorrigible | given to fits of

pique | slippery

virile | unruly

he who lives | by the word

dies by | the word

a concoction | motions of

the mind | the panoply . . .

we see the | word

isolate | and whole

a word | that works

only in | the context of

the records that | hold

it | forms that confine it

the sequences | it resides

within | meaning

not | the sentence

or phrase | but also

fully within | the human

body | forming it

 

any word takes | many forms

ghost | shadow | specter

villain | ne’er-do-well | savior

adjective | adverb | noun

you see | you hear | you speak

the word | as if

(as if) | it were real

solid | enduring | an

edifice of | sense

yet it is but | a phantom

apparent one moment | absent

the next | fluctuating in

meaning | in sound

in the replication of it | in

the form of character | a

chimera | poised to mean

the opposite of | your intended

meaning | just

before | you speak it out loud

and let it | fall to your feet