Lingua incognita
- Sue Wootton
Some words dwell in the bone, as yet
unassembled. Like the word you want
for Weary of the City, for Soul Tired; the word
you seek for Confusion Where Affection Once Existed
or the single vowel-filled syllable which would accurately render
Sensation of Freefall Generated by Receipt of Terrifying Information.
Down in the bone the word-strands glimmer and ascend
often disordered, often in dreams,
bone-knowledge beating a path through the body to the throat
labouring to enter the alphabet.
Maybe the bones ache.
Maybe the throat.
Your cells your language, occasionally articulate
in a rush of ease, the body clear as wellspring saying this is
The Moment of Illumination When One Allows that Water Yields to Rock, and Always Flows
and sometimes the only word to assemble in the throat is Yes
and sometimes the only word to assemble in the throat is No.
• Sue Wootton is a Dunedin author. Her third collection of poetry, By Birdlight (Wellington: Steele Roberts, 2011) is out this week.
