Howard Firkin
This is a very human trait: we sort,
we classify, we name, divide and join,
define and re-define in terms we coin
to never quite explain the things we thought
could only be explained with words (which don’t).
The other very human trait: we sort
of make it up when nothing works the way
it should, when all the words we have convey
no more than that we know less than we ought.
We’ll try to get it right next time. We won’t.
I want to tell you, but I’d have to use
these words, or some words similar, and they
unclarify, they re-obscure, confuse;
so while I sort my thoughts, think words I say.
we classify, we name, divide and join,
define and re-define in terms we coin
to never quite explain the things we thought
could only be explained with words (which don’t).
The other very human trait: we sort
of make it up when nothing works the way
it should, when all the words we have convey
no more than that we know less than we ought.
We’ll try to get it right next time. We won’t.
I want to tell you, but I’d have to use
these words, or some words similar, and they
unclarify, they re-obscure, confuse;
so while I sort my thoughts, think words I say.
