1 files changed, 38 insertions, 0 deletions

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+---
+title: Elegy for an alternate self
+genre: verse
+
+id: elegyforanalternateself
+toc: "Elegy for an alternate self"
+
+project:
+    title: Autocento of the breakfast table
+    class: autocento
+...
+
+| Say there are no words.  Say that we are conjoined
+| from birth, or better still, say we are myself.
+| ---But I still talk to myself, I [build my world][]
+| through language, so if we say there are [no words][]
+| this is not enough.  Say we are instead some animal,
+| or better yet, [a plant][], or a flagellum motoring
+| aimlessly around.  (Say that humans are the only things
+| that reason.  Say that we're the [only things that worry][].)
+
+| Say that I am separate.  To say there's everything else
+| and then there's me is wrong.  Each thing is separate:
+| [there is no whole in the world][].  Say this is both good
+| and bad, or rather, say there is no good or bad but only
+| being, [more and more of it always added][], none taken out
+| though it can be forgotten.  Say that forgetting
+| is a [function of our remembering][].  (Say that humans only
+| [worry about separation][].  Say that only humans feel it.)
+
+[no words]: hymnal.html
+[a plant]: plant.html
+[only things that worry]: movingsideways.html
+[there is no whole in the world]: i-wanted-to-tell-you-something.html
+[worry about separation]: swansong-alt.html
+[build my world]: i-am.html
+[more and more of it always added]: no-nothing.html
+[function of our remembering]: collage-instrument.html