deepundergroundpoetry.com
Lines
The lines on the paper
Made no sense to him
The |, / and \
The -, ( and )
But all in his head
He knew that
| and | make the ||
And _ needs = across the ||
He could tell how many /
make a /\
to span a ====
The length of ()
And the number of ""
To cover the distance between / and \
And how many : will put them together.
----
A poem I wrote nearly 2 years ago - about the fisherman who built our house, an amazing man who does not read or write.
Made no sense to him
The |, / and \
The -, ( and )
But all in his head
He knew that
| and | make the ||
And _ needs = across the ||
He could tell how many /
make a /\
to span a ====
The length of ()
And the number of ""
To cover the distance between / and \
And how many : will put them together.
----
A poem I wrote nearly 2 years ago - about the fisherman who built our house, an amazing man who does not read or write.
Published 6th Feb 2014
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6th Feb 2014 7:12am
nevertheless, he made his mark. & your poem is almost dealing in runes...
7th Feb 2014 1:43pm
6th Feb 2014 7:44am
So nice poem! And funny for us, probably not so funny for your fisherman, just a strategy!
7th Feb 2014 11:49am
Thanks, malin. The fisherman is illiterate but he can build a big beautiful house - this house still standing after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake and a category 5 typhoon ... :)
6th Feb 2014 8:51am
Quite a challenge.We need to question our conventions,how often do we leave coded messages in our diaries which to us make perfect sense?Is it a form of the allegory ?
Hi Kexby! :) I tend to think that in the continuum of expressive language, allegory (and metaphor) are at the semantic end of the spectrum - that world of meanings. At the other end is the syntactical - that world of procedures.
When I wrote this poem I wanted to remember this illiterate man not by what he looked like or what his life was or what his work meant. I am also quite bad with allegory and metaphors and symbols.
But I wanted to remember this man by the process by which he creates, by the arrangement of lines (and structures) in his head. It is a house with a roof of woven palm fronds.
/(""")(""")\
/("")("")("")\
/(")(")(")(")(")\
:||-------||:
:||-------||:
:||-------||:
:||-------||:
-----------------
=================
When I wrote this poem I wanted to remember this illiterate man not by what he looked like or what his life was or what his work meant. I am also quite bad with allegory and metaphors and symbols.
But I wanted to remember this man by the process by which he creates, by the arrangement of lines (and structures) in his head. It is a house with a roof of woven palm fronds.
/(""")(""")\
/("")("")("")\
/(")(")(")(")(")\
:||-------||:
:||-------||:
:||-------||:
:||-------||:
-----------------
=================
6th Feb 2014 1:44pm
I really like this poem a lot
It says so much about knowledge and instinct
Great words
It says so much about knowledge and instinct
Great words
7th Feb 2014 11:47am
Thank you, Speak, when I saw how this man works, it changed my view of the literate world forever.
7th Feb 2014 1:50pm
This man is able to communicate he is visually literate.Are there not examples when a person not skilled in grammar can communicate with others,using a limited vocabulary,few words . . .those they possess having to be used sparingly ?
7th Feb 2014 2:20pm
Oh yes, kexby, but communication is not the prime purpose of language. Perhaps it is the purpose of literacy, but not of language. Language's noble purpose is first to create and then to understand the world through its creations.
That fisherman is illiterate and yet he has a splendid grasp of language, much more than many of the literate.
:)
That fisherman is illiterate and yet he has a splendid grasp of language, much more than many of the literate.
:)
