46. forewords & backwords

 

not a word from it | not a word

but a thought | we go thoughtword

thoughtword | through our day

imaging the absence | of words

as an efflorescence | of meaning

the sense an odor has | upon the

nose | in the sense of being known

without being understood | ir-

rational ideas about | the meaning

of words against | the psyche

how the ancients could carve

a perfect philtrum | out of marble

a channel to roll | a marble through

in a sense | we never know

what a word means | we feel it

it feels like | rising up out of the sea

lungs burning for air | and gasping

into us the deepest breath | it feels like

the sense that a violet | would taste

better | with a little lemon juice

 

the meaning of the word for blue

in English is | “having had blown”

and the meaning of | the word

blown | is “covered with many

blouses” | but we use these words

without reference | to their true

meanings | we act as if we can

change the meanings of words

at will | for instance, I might say

Have you detrited your sheets?

and you might say | They were

not at all trited | or trite before

so I see no need for | detriting

yet there is no triting we can de-

meaning is the captivation of

the word | by means both dark

and insular | if we knew what

the word was and | what it meant

we would have no reason | to use

it | but we never know all it means

 

this is a poem about dirt | you

probably don’t realize | this

because you expect a | poem

about dirt to focus on | dirt

a bit more than this poem | has

that is a problem caused | by

knowing what dirt | means

to solve that problem | you

must forget the meaning | of

dirt and remember what | it

feels like | and by it I | mean

what the word feels like | not

the feeling of the meaning | of

the word but the word it | self

for instance feel the word | in

side your mouth but | be

careful not to imagine | the

feeling of dirt so don’t | feel

grit and dirt and mud | but

feel every letter of | dirt