![]() harris’s poems online: _______ | ![]() francine j. harris “language worksover information” — ron silliman
i.
beingalone affects the canvas under language. its hold. its black throughthe window, the cloth behind the feud. and by the way
it is afeud. a battle about battling. a conflict over agreement. language works over information. someonein the audience says: youmean works over, like in a fight, like a war.
theauthor hadn’t thought of this. says: well. . . yes the mansits back in his seat. as in
takesover. as in takes a bullet to a statistic’s brain, pullsalong generalities in a dead body wagon. plantslandmines in long redundancies. red herring. does theediting in hubs of triage, this
theliving, barely breathing language, this thelanguage with no hope for a new organ, now this overhere language could be saved, if only we hadenough oxygen. there is no oxygen. but here, thislanguage only needs a suture for its passive voice, a simpleinterrupted stitch for its drone on spiel. [language takes informationby its hair and rides it
nighttime. it is hardly soft on the reigns, is not some given space wheresoft falls. this is always responding in defense of the gallop, in defense of thewhip on the croup. dying is something you have to do on purpose in words. likeit or not, it’s some blood banshee wearing a strip of burlap on its forehead. it’s aspelled out gun toter throwing itself on the enemy’s sandbag daggers. you’dthink you could say fuck ’em, let ’em think what they want to think the manin the audience uncrosses his legs. and hisarms go up. so really language has a bone to pick withinformation
theauthor hadn’t thought of this. says well.. . maybe. but whatabout the average joe. language istypical. it only sticks upon repetition. upontrend. when repeated. when repeated the lonevoice isn’talways the one winning over information. just ask ateenager to read a poem and tell you why the poet wrote it. ’cause he crazy. the lonevoice could be mistaken. everybody says so.
thelonely voice is lonely. listens for someone in the kitchen clinkingdishes. thinks: it could be worse. it could be a tapefor widows, artificially domestic. platesclinking. bags being emptied. the floor being swept. breath.
II
. forthe absence of language,there is more than one side. somebodyhold me once, like you held me. unassuming. don’t work over me. not yet. don’t try towin. not yet. don’t already be lost. don’t be a foregone conclusion. not a tendency. not a trend. don’t already give up. believe. (i’ll fight you for it.) (not yet) wrestlewith it. (i’ll fight you for it.) stay. i’ll believe it is more than anomaly. evenanomaly could catch on. if repeated. or. repeated. could become a trend. languageworks over information. or. works underneath it. like a trend. like that which does not bother to fabricate. to work. that which is the dirt earth housing the explosion under. you could say language is really trying to kill information
for thereduction of dead space, the over and over again suture. thatwhich is blown apart. before it takes place. thatwound bleeding open, that limbsoaking the ground. that tongue parting thelips, that heat traveling rooms:
only atrained professional can gather the air with decision. can work with this much absent language. the medic beginsto feel for the explosion, press for below the ground, below thehousing of blood and. the horizontal mattress suture. heat spells:
thisone to an open bed
heatsays:
thisone is gone
heatmoves the medic closer to some thumping heart lay apart. chestblown, mouth tongue ripped out. chest gaping, organsoaking the ground so language has nothing to lose compared to information
themedic leans forward. the author hadn’t thought about this: says well. . . no. but theeyes are still fluttering. under information. a kindof anomaly. still working. still trying to move; lone voice totrend. to live above the intelligence. the flash. in the form oflanguage. or below information, as in final report. below as a sense of heat,heat moves the medic’s hand, says:
thisone believes. stands to lose something. stitch up the heart.
i love you 2 3 4 i love you 2 3 4 i love you 2 3 4 i love you 2 3 4 i love you 2 3 4 i love you 2 3 4 i love you 2 3 4 i love you
watchthe eyes …
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