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a poetic prelude

One Student's picture

Some of my poetry is not intended to have any meaning whatsoever - it's an exercise in breaking down language, because language doesn't say everything I want to say anyway (labyrinthlanguage). It's fun. It keeps my fidgety mind occupied during class, while I listen with half an ear. It's stringing together words that sound ... right. Here are two poems that I thought were meaningless. The first developed meaning as I wrote. The second ... I think it has meaning, though it's damn oblique. But I think it's about continuing, and continuing, and continuing to makea certain kind of effort ...


victory leap to the seat
of life
barding the flow
extend the line to the mask faces out there
make them
make them
make them open their mouths
even to bite
the pain will assure of life
and the shock of undigestable blood
might teach
them to look
at what they otherwise swallow whole


vary growth loan
institute game
inform wolf grind
involve limb touch
network the love up
converse spawn crime
gift gift gift
lower full lower
hang a line out
power the coating
catch out cling
tap tap out
teach creep flood