My “ ” is gon. Wipd from its shiny black ky.
Vaporizd into thin air;
rubbd out lik a Mafioso rat by robust and ruthlss punching.
Bginning with th uppr right arm,
followd by its middl and lowr branchs, pummld colorlss,
lik th middl C that I printd on th piano with indlibl markr whn I was just thr.
Nothing bing prmannt.
" "—A mathmatical constant, the slop of a tangnt lin (of a crtain function), th valu of a drivitiv;
an irrational numbr of utmost importanc.
(Not that I shall vr attmpt to us it as such.)
It’s tru—I undrstand now—how th “ ” is th most commonly usd vowl. Utilizd, consumd, xhaustd. I’v witnssd its slow annihilation
at th hand of th oily skinnd undrsid of my lft middl fingr;
a lon swirling print complling vidnc.
Thoughtlss. Mrcilss.
But what to com is mor troubling: th gradual dtrioration of T, who’s uppr right cap is missing;
and th I! Oh my! A mr smudg at th cntr of th raisd bvld squar.
What to do whn my grayd lttrs hav all vanishd?! Th aging mind drawing blanks.
How will I find my way? Will th sound of th rat-a-tat tap carry m through—rkindling th addictiv, habitual lik movmnts of my tn rhumatic digits?
Lik a musician’s traind ar, a singrs cultivatd vocal chords?
Whn all my comrads hav bn limnd bald, will I still hav a story to tll? A song to sing?
But just whn I wondr how I can b m without th lttr “ ”, I am succord by th stubborn blot of my lingring “I”,
my dtrmind vowl. A syllabl, a pronoun, an uttranc unto itslf.
I wondr if this would qualify as Ars Potica? Profssor B?
Without th "" what would w b? Nothing but four vowls (and somtims y). I'd be rligatd to lif as Mik. My favorit color would be grn. I'd drink br, root for th Mts and at stak. I don't want to at stak and I crtainly don't want to go through lif without the "". Can't you contact Dll and ask thm to giv it back? What about Obama? Surly h could do somthing about it? Ah, but mayb Barak has no interest in ""s. Ys, surly that's it - Barak Obama has no nd for that lttr. It's a cospiracy and Barak is bhind it all. I wondr if Michll knows about this?
ReplyDeleteExcellent! The poet Christian Bok, in his book Eunoia, wrote five chapters, one for each vowel and using only words with that particular vowel. Maybe we should put you in touch.
ReplyDeleteVERY artful and poetic post, for sure (see? you do write poetry!).
I felt sad for your poor little key and that was all the fun.
ReplyDeleteNance- Since I wrote this, last September, I've lost several more. What becomes of my letters?
ReplyDeleteMuscle memory serves me well, but can get me just so far... I think this may be a good argument for the purchase of that Mac I've been lusting after. ;-)