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I think that what caused a lot frustration with "Lifting Belly" was our, as readers, preference for discovering the meaning of the words. It seems reasonable that most readers enter texts expecting them to communicate something from the writer to them. What was suggested as a helpful and perhaps more beneficial way to tackle "Lifting Belly" in class was to ignore the urge to find meaning within the words. Indeed, "find" is the wrong word for this poem, as no meaning would readily reveal itself; instead, we merely have the option to "make" meaning from the words, though that too is a difficult task.

In The Book of Salt, Bình very easily abandons our need to understand the meaning of words: "I free myself from the direct translation of your words into understandable feelings and recognizable acts. I leave your words raw, allow myself to experience your language as a medium of songs..." (111). I find Bình's relation of unintelligible language to music useful: instrumental music has no words yet still communicates. The question is whether this—and any—type of non-verbal communication is reliable. If we listen to a piece of music or watch/listen to someone's "body language," do we understand what the musician or the person is trying to communicate?

Certainly, we never fully understand what another person is trying to convey in words, either. Perhaps I put too much trust in the power of words, though personally I have had little reason to doubt them. What are the experiences that can't be described, and how are they best expressed?