The Sweet Spot Remains Ancient, Strange, and Familiar

No matter why someone writes

Anything in a language—

Any language that can be

Written, including math, code,

Allegorical visions—

What will matter to readers,

Given enough time passed by,

Is just the fact someone wrote

Anything that still exists

And still can be deciphered

By those readers. Lists of kings

And parallel accounting

In multiple scripts become

Precious regardless of skill

Or reasons for writing them.

Still, you’d rather discover

Finer, literary scripts,

Sumerian Temple Hymns,

Or Inanna and Ebih

Or ancient creation myths,

That sort of thing, in any

Surviving scrap of writing

From any given culture.

And, good heavens, if you found

Previously unknown tales

Involving motivations

Of character families,

Psychological drama,

Conflicts, heroes and villains,

Recognizably in verse—

The whole of literature

Itself would be disrupted

Accommodating the new.