This one goes out to my long-time Midtown Scholar friend and her beloved Silas. And to my cousin, also in Harrisburg, whose email is kjfcatlover. Also to my UK daughter – plus any neighborhood strays who happen to be visiting her in Brum – from my favorite experimental poet, Brian Bilston. It’s called:
On ‘;..p’[[[[[[[[[[[[[;’;////////////////////////3,’.
‘““““`5555=======================’.
Indeed.
Hi,
The print is so tiny that I cannot read it, and also I cannot seem to enlarge it. As a cat lover, I think I might be interested in the subject of this poem. I’ll try Brian Bilston on the web, and maybe I can find the poem there..
Thank you, though!
All best wishes,
Marianna
On ‘;..p’[[[[[[[[[[[[[;’;////////////////////////3,’
Upon returning to my desk,
having left it temporarily in search of biscuits,
I discovered my cat had written a poem
on my laptop.
It was called ‘;..p’[[[[[[[[[[[[[;’;////////////////////////3,’
and constituted one of her more difficult pieces,
but it was the kind of poem
which rewarded repeat reading.
I was struck by its experimental structure:
the absence of line breaks,
indeed, not one single space between any
of the poem’s 10,000 or so characters.
One of the work’s central motifs –
‘jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk’ –
was, by turns, unsettling and comforting,
while the symbolism of ‘###################’,
hinted at our 21st century preoccupation with social media.
And who could not be moved by that devastating final line,
its message of hope piercing the heart like an arrow:
‘““““`5555=======================’.