Saturday, August 2, 2008

folly :/{the freedom & civil rights movements}

not distinguishing
first person singular
from third person plural
peculiar grammar

where the punctuation
was the hope and struggle
the idiom was pain
the syntax was a dream

luther king and gandhi
their obtuse expression
the folly of a tongue
where "i" stood for ' them'

they stood for liberty
La langue d'amour

../original/z.g.
Posted by at
Labels:

15 comments:

  1. Gemma WisemanAugust 2, 2008 at 10:38 PM

    What an amazing, symbolic overlay! Comapring the rigours of grammar with legendary leaders is quite remarkable! Loved this! It needed a couple of reads to allow all the allusions to sink in!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 3, 2008 at 2:44 AM

    Truth spoken, no matter how poorly constructed, loses none of its beauty. Our ears delight in the hearing of it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. SianAugust 3, 2008 at 5:18 AM

    fools for love, brilliantly done.

    ReplyDelete
  4. RavenAugust 3, 2008 at 12:20 PM

    Deeply thoughtful. Very interesting and clever conflation of grammar and the social/political action of these great human beings. I especially like this stanza:

    where the punctuation
    was the hope and struggle
    the idiom was pain
    the syntax was a dream

    ReplyDelete
  5. SandyCarlsonAugust 3, 2008 at 3:16 PM

    Life is language, really. And grammar, the context. So important. This is a tour de force, a wonderful poem about language and freedom. And I and them. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tumblewords:August 3, 2008 at 4:20 PM

    Profound and beautiful. Your thoughtfulness is shown so well!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Deborah GodinAugust 3, 2008 at 5:53 PM

    This is, I think, my fourth time coming to this one, experiencing it from different angles, so to speak. Like Raven said, "deeply thoughtful." I don't think I could say it any better. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  8. gautami tripathyAugust 4, 2008 at 4:27 AM

    I simply loved the grammar bit. Very well written.

    yellowed piece of paper

    ReplyDelete
  9. TeriAugust 4, 2008 at 9:39 AM

    You have SUCH a wonderful way with words!!! I love reading what you write.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousAugust 4, 2008 at 1:55 PM

    A wonderful poem. I remember during the CRM, how very carefully we used words, so as not to offend. It was a hard time, but thank god people were trying.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Patois42August 5, 2008 at 9:22 AM

    You've done a fabulous job with this. I love "where 'i' stood for 'them'."

    ReplyDelete
  12. JP/debAugust 7, 2008 at 10:28 PM

    the folly of passion, of dreams, of thinking we can make a difference (and actually making it happen!) Peace, JP/deb

    ReplyDelete
  13. zoya gautamAugust 8, 2008 at 5:46 PM

    ..deeply thankful to Everyone Of U..

    ReplyDelete
  14. storytellerAugust 8, 2008 at 6:19 PM

    Sorry to arrive late … delighted to have arrived at all. What an amazing poem … rich language and images resonating in my thoughts … beautifully conceived and created. Thank you.
    Hugs and blessings,

    ReplyDelete
  15. zoya gautamAugust 9, 2008 at 4:21 AM

    storyteller _many thanks..

    ReplyDelete

..namastey!~

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)