Gravity and Levity
Words and Their Married Meanings
Gravity and Levity
It does not take much, but still
It does take a certain amount
of mental tension to string even
a single, four-or-so-word-thought
together —
Out of nowhere in particular
a new notion breaks the surface
with its wet nose and sniffs the air
for even the faintest relevance
And yes, the air tells it, there is
something unsaid that need be said
or unthought that need be thought
or unfelt that need be felt
or unworried about that need be
worried about
Something to do with I’m sorry
but I forget precisely what but
there was some relevance to this
I’m sure of it —
some pertinence swashing by
to stir me, yes, sure of it
so my bones or my belly
tells me
A few hundred nano moments later
(say, two milliseconds)
the hand of consciousness reaches
out and up into the air where words
and not necessarily related meanings
flit about hither and yon, flung into air
by levity (the opposite of gravity — yes,
the force, not the mood) looking for
shapes and sense and feelings that
mirror this new wet-nosed notion
And there’s one, and there’s two words
and there’s one, and there’s two meanings
yes related, pertinent, on point, yes
now to join them, marry them
They don’t like this, words and meanings
prefer independence, leave us alone please
so they resist, urged by innate levity
(yes, the force, not the mood)
yet you persist in grasping, joining, marrying
seizing first the one with one hand
then the other with the second hand
then the other with the third hand and then
the other with the fourth hand
now working against innate resistance
and wordy reluctance to take a spouse
in order to marry them
and then to keep them married
at least for a second or two or three
This creates tension this does:
word-to-meaning tension
This unnatural marriage
Perceiving each other they think
perhaps not such a bad idea
curious, wanting to approach
playing into the hands of gravity
Still, singleness is their natural state
alone much better, really
certainties fueled by levity
Still, you persist in fusing, marrying
word and meaning, and there, now:
Fused — finally cohered by local mind gravity
along with word and meaning curiosity
and so onto the next pair:
this repeated for the next two or three
or four or five words and their meanings
held in cohesive suspension until
the time comes (some nano moments later)
to build the sentence edifice — another
structure cohered by local mind gravity
to come to rest in what is subtle
but nonetheless very much present tension
Now to consult our logical
agreed upon structure
of grammar and convention into
what now says something
hopefully expressing the thought
that hopefully expresses
the wet-nosed notion
(lo, these many nano moments ago)
You taste the sentence internally
(or externally)
and it tastes good, it speaks
in several, correctly constructed
tensioned word-meaning pairs
(say, four) — in this ever
so slight stretching and
counter-stretching that keeps
things in place, thoughts included
For there is levity —
rising, scattering, escaping
For there is gravity —
the sinking, cohering, capturing
And so, there is tension
Thus, says my tensioned thought:
to ease all tension
to release kaya
to open every hand
is to release all thought
No tension: No language…
© Wolfstuff
