Perhaps the thousand-thousand
unpronounceable names for god
wait to burn your tongue,
if, by chance, your babbling
could bring you to the brink
of intelligibility. The thousand
monkey’s theory of Macbeth
could prove true given enough
time. Yet, we’ve been at this
for so long now, one would
assume our relationship
would be stronger somehow,
that I would know your name;
since, I know you know mine.
I’m unsure where you are, or if
you are, or, perhaps, I’m speaking
to myself—all those years gone,
as I puttered randomly about the house,
pulling books off the shelf, reading
a passage, thinking someone nearby
was speaking directly to me, but
only within the context of that moment;
never a sustained conversation,
as between long-time friends.
What can be said, when there’s no one
to hear? If you are not here, then
what consequence can I be, beyond
these words I speak only to myself?
Unless perhaps, what I speak, and to whom,
are enough of a signature, a singularity,
to pronounce, with clarity, if only
for this moment, my name into the dark.
(April 12, 2019)
unpronounceable names for god
wait to burn your tongue,
if by chance your babbling
brings you to the brink
of intelligibility. The thousand
monkey’s theory of Macbeth
could prove true given enough
time. Yet we’ve been at it
for so long now, one would
assume our relationship
would be stronger somehow,
that I would know your name;
since, I know you know me.
I’m unsure where you are, or if
you are, or, perhaps, I’m speaking
to myself—all those years gone,
as I puttered randomly about the house,
pulling books off the shelf, reading
a passage, thinking someone nearby
was speaking directly to me, but
only within the context of that moment.
What can be said, when there’s no one
to hear? If you are not here,
then what consequence can I be, beyond
the words I speak only to myself?
Unless perhaps, what I speak, and to whom,
are enough of a signature, a singularity,
to pronounce, with clarity, if only
for this moment, my name into the dark.
(April 12, 2019)
