Alphabet MonTuesday

in among the acrobats, generals, strongmen, and officials, we found a small pot. it stood-out among the terracotta figures, and their immortal safeguarding of the emperor, because it was made of jade. and even more unusual: given the history of such pots always proves-out a wedding of function and beauty - such pots were for the eye, but through imagination, for the hand as well - we noticed the pot was made without a handle: carbon dating and x-rays show it never had one, unlike every other pot of its kind. but there it was: at the epicenter of 8000 various figures, a strange, hand-size pot, made of jade, the source of which still remains a mystery: it even has a porous color unlike any jade seen before. but what really got the specialists thinking was its weight: it was unsteady. although tests remain inconclusive, speculation shows the weight of the pot is dependent on what holds it - a small child holds it, it is light; a soldier holds it, it is heavy. Dr Ramaar from the Greek Institute for Ancient Gain says it is 'quite astonishing. it might even demand a new interpretation of what we have long assumed, since Archimedes, to be the nature of material.' But as astonishing as all this is, I will declare to you my finding: my name is Dr Altman, and I work for the rarely heard of branch of Yale Linguistics called temple - our name comes from the address of the faculty - 370 temple street. the few of us who work here noticed immediately back in '74, during the unearthing of what's now called the 'terracotta army', the pot was indeed hollow, as many specialists quickly noticed, but that the hollow also had a certain shape. it was immediately familiar to us back then, but we just couldn't figure out how. that was nearly 40 years ago. and we've examined this thing ever since. and we've considered this strange shape, and the fact the pot is somehow weight-dependent, and cross-referenced all we've found with reams of data and theory related to how language lives, how words and letters evolve, how what happened in language thousands of years ago can shape what happens in language tomorrow, and we've decided: that little shape, in that little pot, made from a jade which remains without source, which alters to accord with what holds it, found at the center of a gigantic burial ground: that shape is the next letter of the alphabet

Sunday's Loss

I hit a bit. no..., er.... I hit a, er..., hit a bit! oh no: I, er, hit a bit of, (what was it?) I hit a bit. [he hit a bit.] [will do again no doubt.] I will not. actually yes - no - yes I will. [see.] but only a quick-hit; a quick-bit. [nevertheless, you will (he will)]. no: I've decided that I won't: too quick just won't do: it's necessary to, er, actually, now I've no idea: now what? [hit a bit.]

Satursunday

I said she said it's the sun. she said I said it's the sun. the sun watched us say, say, watched, listened then replied with light. I said she said I'm sunburned. she said I said I'm sunburned. the sun watched the sunburn, sunburn, watched, listened then replied with rain, from a cloud - it makes deals, the details it won't offer. I said she said now I'm cold. she said I said now I'm wet. the sun replied with fire

Call Friday

more. more she says. more. hear the word leave her room and echo down her hall, dropping long feathers as they go - see all these feathers litter the hall; walk her hall and hear as they crunch, barbs and shafts beneath your feet. peacock feathers meters high, tides of eyes and rachis, hissing a brackish odor, rising and permeating her call - more, more. all this a crow tells me: says all crows are peacocks as all were peacocks once: versed in the peacock rules of display; au fait with the peacock codes of etiquette and preening. but she only wanted more, no matter what she got. just more. took all we had, our size, our song, our beautiful feathers too, to line her empty halls: see me now, these black feather stumps, this neck

Numberlessly Thursday

walks pages to find what's to be said. walks lines to find words, and this line to find words. walks, step-by-fingers-step, to raise words that say what's to be said. maybe past-words that lean away, lined by weight and shadow; maybe future-words, that lean away, lined by light; or present words standing vertical. all numberlessly walking line, sentenced to raise a what's said, up-from lines of wording stitched to a page: that white of white becoming sheet of marked aquiesce. from where walking becomes talking becoming speech, a says what's to be said, becomes calling for reply

Wednesday a-go

a trade of winds

a carry of cards 

a breeze you can see

this house 
a was

Tuesday was-Monday

writing to fill the gaps the day leaves at its end, here with 
the midnight ticking in. putting word to word to create a 
memory, to fill each gap, huddling around me now as 
sullen air. in order to forget: made-up memories for 
forgetting, made of greyest forget. like, I forget, for example. 
or, I forgot. and, I forget that I should remember. and
I do remember