Wednesday 29 January 2014

24. Reaching the Iussive at Last



Why aren’t there always more people, then?
Isn’t it very confused, too, around about the middle of things?
Have we forgotten that rage, hate & greed?
But don’t we think, though, on these continually & without purpose?

What is the secret process of that word used for “only”?
Is it significant the language you hear is Polish?
Does dentition imply or deny its gummy substrate?
Is the end point really our present state of lock-down?

Why can’t it be love or French or spaced out, whatever …[1]?
Will you really buy me a cup of coffee, here, now?
What are the waves of playful language?
Is working dirty?[2] And Nik & Jeanette here[3]?

How can you ask questions with such words?
How can you ask questions in such a world?
How can everything be stuck in this slow, grinding whirl?
How can you start a statement beginning “I’ll”[4]?





[1] pleasure?
[2] stains?
[3] hope?
[4] just say it

1 comment:

  1. “Is it significant the language you hear is Polish?” – “From the mouths of Polish mothers”, William Carlos Williams quoted as to the source of his language in Robert Coles, William Carlos Williams: The Knack of Survival in America (Rutgers University Press, 1975), p 63 (though I’m sure I was aware of this phrase of Williams’ when I studied Williams with Andrew Crozier round about 1970).

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