There were days when we tested ourselves –
or if not ourselves, then the depths
of a neuroscience outside
of us. You laughed and repeated
whatever we saw until the bottom
of every noun fell out
from under it. We chanted Chair tree
laundromat until we
worshipped in ecstatic
tongues. I didn’t speak again until the night
so I could research our
holiness. Semantic satiation:
which means comprehension comes
from hunger.
You researched divining rods.
I reminded you of the city
around us.
This is beautiful. You have a knack (nack? nak? nahk? snack?) for knowing what a reader expects, syntactically, and defying that in astounding ways.
ReplyDeleteThat aside--the first sentence seems out of place. either I think it should come at the end, or in another poem entirely because it lacks the kind of union between semantics & holiness that the rest of the poem embodies.
I'd also love you to explore this union further. it's really interesting--the junction between religion and words-in-themselves. maybe that comes with the whole "series" in which case, ignore.