A look at language(adult language)

**TsuTseQ** · 11-21-2006, 12:33 AM

This poem is by regie gibson:
Alchemy

PRONOUN/NOUN/PREPOSITION/NOUN
PRONOUN/NOUN/PREPOSITION/NOUN
PRONOUN/ADJECTIVE/VERB/NOUN/PREPOSITION/NOUN
NOUN/VERB/ADVERB/CONJUNCTION/ARTICLE/NOUN
PREPOSITION/PRONOUN/NOUN

this/eroticism/of/language
this/copulation/of/words
this/slow/burning/fuck/of/syllables
poetry/is/more/than/the/sum
of/its/parts

I was utterly affected by gibson's juxtaposition of these two stanzas. In such a simple and unusual way, he's able to display how effective poetry and the language of poetry is beyond its structure. I began to be more careful of my own word usage after reading this, so I just wanted to share it.

**Hodge** · 11-21-2006, 01:50 AM

Juxtaposition! The first stanza is the structure of the second! Yet at the same time it is a juxtaposition... This is pretty neat.

**k3ng** · 11-22-2006, 02:48 AM

COOL!

This should be put in the 'Poetry for Dummies' or something.... really really cool.

**ross** · 12-04-2006, 05:39 PM

That is clever - in fact really clever.

I've printed it off and stuck it on the pinboard, but don't you just know someone somewhere will view it as a ready-made formula for building a poem? I don't think it's that at all. I think it's a clever poem that's protesting against ideas of formula and structure. It's a protest song!!!

**Jolly McJollyson** · 12-04-2006, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by ross

That is clever - in fact really clever.

I've printed it off and stuck it on the pinboard, but don't you just know someone somewhere will view it as a ready-made formula for building a poem? I don't think it's that at all. I think it's a clever poem that's protesting against ideas of formula and structure. It's a protest song!!!

Looks to me like a poem that's also protesting the conventional, Cartesian way the typical literati looks at language. Delightful.

**J.R. MacLean** · 12-09-2006, 02:43 PM

instructive and delightful, that's a rare combination suzi, thanks.

Ristaag · 12-09-2006, 06:48 PM

Absolutely brilliant. I'll have to take another look at Gibson.

**Jolly McJollyson** · 02-07-2007, 08:26 AM

Oh, I can't believe I didn't say anything about it before...

"This" isn't a pronoun, it's a demonstrative adjective.

**TsuTseQ** · 02-18-2007, 08:30 PM

Holy cow Jolly! Youre right! The way "this" is used in this poem makes it a demonstrative adjective. If "this" weren't modifying a noun, it would be a demonstrative pronoun (as in the sentence: I like this.), but since "this" does modify nouns (eroticism/copulation/fuck), it changes its grammatical role.

Dammit! The poem is slightly ruined for me now. Mean English majors.

I need to brush up on my grammar.

**ruksak** · 02-23-2007, 04:08 PM

'this' is a pronoun at the segmental level the poet has chosen. we can choose to describe 'the' as 'definite article' if we wish, or 'burning' as a gerund, but this is an additional level - much akin to using basic level phonetics to transcribe speech rather than using the full IPA with diacritics.

Sorry, for being a smartarse, but it doesn't ruin the poem at all - further breakdown and analysis of the most detailed description of each of the words used, would ruin it however.