It is best to let Language
Speak its piece while standing inside it:²
To read a Poem is to eavesdrop on the Language—³
What is the Language Using us for?⁴
The mission of language is to Uncover—
Not to hide—the value of Meaning & Existence:⁵
Language is not a cunning conventionalism
Arbitrarily agreed upon: it’s an internal Necessity,
Begotten of a lustful longing to express a human’s
Secret Sense of their ability to interpret nature.⁶
We use Language to build the Gardens
We’re destined to be expelled from!⁷
This is our Encrypted languageOf Suffering—of Protection.⁸
Only one thing remains
Reachable, close & secure
Amid all losses: Language—⁹
Language is closer to us than
Any Silence or any God!¹⁰
¹ Ntozake Shange, Takin A Solo
² Rae Armantrout, Craft Talk
³ Paul Batchelor, Weight of the Word, Weight of the World
⁴ W.S. Graham, What is the Language Using Us For?
⁵ Circe Maia tr. Jesse Lee Kercheval, En El Tiempo
⁶ Francis Rolt-Wheeler, History of Literature
⁷ Momina Mela, Prayer is Better than Sleep
⁸ Erika Meitner, HolyMolyLand
⁹ Paul Celan tr. Rosmarie Waldrop, Speech (1958)
¹⁰ John Berger, And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos