Too reductive? You fold up
The plaid blanket you had wrapped
Around your waist, rummaging
Memory as you do so.
The best stories had three things—
Characters you found yourself
Deeply emotionally
Invested in, never mind
That they were only phrases
And rehearsed performances—
Plots whose basic outlines served
To provide a scaffolding
For comprehending
This or that schema of life—
And unusual language
At points in the narrative,
Memorable turns of phrase
In the mouths of characters
Or in the surrounding words
Describing scenes and events.
Focusing on the latter
Alone, apart from the plot
Or character, yes, that is
Reductive. You put away
The blanket in the cupboard.
Locally, another day
Had begun, dominated,
Like all the rest, by events
And various characters.
But here, in the quiet room
Where you watch the sun alone,
You find your mind hunting down
The footpaths of memory,
Hungry for just the right phrase,
The remarkable fragment
Of unusual language.
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Phrases and Fragments of Unusual Language
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