Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Languages We Speak
The languages we speak
first dark as soot and scraped
from a charred end
of stick or bone maybe
some Neolithic artist
talented with chisel
on stone words clean
as water rising
from spring
thoughts, clear
as a howl in winter
over fresh fallen snow
and the blossoming
moon face.
Mine is the language
of weeping willows
in an arid country,
words dry as ash
scattered in the desert.
The words we speak
came with one mind
from one mind
branching like twigs
in Spring
thoughts twisted
as Prometheus tree trunk
progeny broadcast on smoke
and wind, seeding the whole
earth teaching humans
to think in sound,
to char bone or stick maybe
slicing fresh made
rock faces.
I speak the language
of desert love unquenchable
thirst, yours is the long
cool language
of goodbye.
The way to the source
leads down
through ages of ice
ages of deluge and drought
to the Eden spring
where none of our kind
has been since the first
people sat by the talking
waters creating new
poems touching
souls capturing gods
with soot and chisel.
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5 comments:
PB, i'm not going to be very helpful because i'm just going to talk about how much i like this poem. i love the idea and the images you create--even more so than usual. i thought in the first stanza "one stone words clean/as water rising" were particularly excellent and i really liked the word combinations.
but i really enjoyed the one beginning "The words we speak/came with one mind..." i remember that chart showing all the different languages and how they relate to each other. have you ever seen that chart? it has all the origins "branching like twigs". so maybe you have seen it.
then i thought the ending was particularly powerful, talking about "creating new/ poems touching/souls capturing gods/ with soot and chisel". i just love this idea...its something that we always think of as so sophisticated (writing, that is) that we forget sometimes that it is also a basic, primal act...but maybe that's just the impression that i get.
anyways, excellent job. sorry if i babbled too much. i'm avoiding homework, can you tell?? LOL no really great work.
Thanks, LO. Most kind as always. You're not obliged to like all of my poems, you know. I certainly don't. LOL
You're right about the chart. I have seen it. I'm a sort of nut for etymology, ancient scripts, and all things connected to the roots of language. Have you seen: http://www.ancientscripts.com/index.html
Seems to me you're reading this one very well. I'm up to my usual tricks with most of it especially playing with "accidental" meanings, no surprise. LOL
I want to thank everybody who contributed to the language discussion in the lounge. It was tremendously helpful in finally getting a handle on this poem. Your combined insights are in this, trust me. :)
Good luck with the studies, LO and thanks for taking the time as always.
You shortened it, no? Did you pull 'idioms' from it? Somehow I remember 'The Languages We Speak' being longer.
I'm a little busy at the moment, though, just wanted to say I read it and enjoyed it. When I have a little more time I'll come back to it.
Have a pleasant day or evening! ;)
I shortened it, no. :D
Idiom is a completely different piece that seems to be talking somewhat about the same subject but isn't. ;)
I know you're pressed for time, Tiger. It's okay. LOL
PB, it would be easier not to like your poems if they weren't good.
try working on that in the future. LOL :-D
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