Someday
this old language
will stretch
until it snaps,
leaving me
with two live ends
and a bright sting
upon my hands.
“Canvas 262”
June 15, 2011
[click to enlarge]
Even now
the strands
are taut
and thin,
the blue nerves
of words exposed.
“Canvas 263”
June 15, 2011
[click to enlarge]
Blood
and meaning
are the same,
so whisper
the sinews
to the bones.
From “The Sinews and the Bones,” Songs and Letters, June 11, 2005.
10 comments:
Viscous imagery. My palms are still smarting. I see those worm ends, writhing and half-less...still oozing vowels.
I hope not; some days this old language is the only thing that keeps me going...
the blue vein of words..the red skin of their anger....the black heads of theirs ..dropped..in defeat...
Well, it’s safe to say that the language is alive and well in you three!
Annie, thanks. I love it.
Cassie, I know exactly what you mean.
Manik, I can only ask, what of the two live ends? They sound more like a recipe for triumph to me.
These words had me looking at the back of my old wrinkled hands.
Or could it be the arrival of another grandchild? Congratulations!
oh, william, how beautiful.
it's funny, i had this thought upon exiting my car last night, which words are unimportant. words unimportant. and yet it is what is on the other side of the words that is important. the desire to translate, to touch, to communicate that which resides inside. this, your veins exposed. this electricity about to zap. words are a sorry translation but aside from hands, they are all we have.
this might be my favorite of yours. but i know this is a lie. each new one that raises up to touch me is my favorite.
xo
erin
Erin, maybe words aren’t a sorry translation after all. Maybe they arrive before we do. Maybe our lives are an effort to catch their tails.
yes, it seems we're all tumbling, doesn't it, grabbing for one another, words and men. but we made words. didn't we? (or as i think you might follow, or did they make us?)
xo
erin
Whether we made them or not, they do make us now. But I think it’s been a two-way process from the beginning.
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