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reading sappho

 ...is a horrible way to start any sentence. alas. here's a poem:


I like this poem 

(because)

I want to email it to you. 

It seems i read 

Unable to speak. 

Full of holes 


An editorial choice has left big chunks open 

Put brackets where they couldn't find words 

Or, some intern at the printing press 

Unpaid, overworked, 

Fell asleep on the keyboard. 


I am reading it, 

In translation, 

Wanting to email you. 


Something greek, english, printed, spoken, 

zeros, ones, 

old, new, then, now, 

Sad papyrus, 

a terrible font. 


There are blank spaces on the page, 

but none quite parce 

What I am trying to.


It occurs to me, 

I think I am looking for the word the worm ate. 


I am looking for the fiber, and the old script, 

and the hand of the genius that wrote it. 

What i want to send you 

Is some type of singular beauty 

Some wholeness, 

Some force acting on the mind 

Felt in the body 

And the euphoria of being the first to ever write it down. 


But that is the word the worm ate.