Words are saturated with time. We are saturated with words for we are temporal beings. Language is not merely a system of semiotics, it doesn't merely represent the world. Rather it constructs it, performs it, creates it and destroys it. It morphs aspects of our reality and forces them to filter through its phonetic and conceptual prisms. If language performs, then the dictionary of all possible words is the cosmos. Welcome to the world of language, the reality in which we live...

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Words by Anne Sexton

Be careful of words, 

even the miraculous ones. 
For the miraculous we do our best, 
sometimes they swarm like insects 
and leave not a sting but a kiss. 
They can be as good as fingers. 
They can be as trusty as the rock 
you stick your bottom on. 
But they can be both daisies and bruises.

Yet I am in love with words. 
They are doves falling out of the ceiling. 
They are six holy oranges sitting in my lap. 
They are the trees, the legs of summer, 
and the sun, its passionate face.

Yet often they fail me. 
I have so much I want to say, 
so many stories, images, proverbs, etc. 
But the words aren't good enough, 
the wrong ones kiss me. 
Sometimes I fly like an eagle 
but with the wings of a wren.

But I try to take care 
and be gentle to them. 
Words and eggs must be handled with care. 
Once broken they are impossible 

things to repair

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