Against Structuralism
Language is a line we draw,
a name a knot in the line,
an articulation of place that says,
“Right here, this is
the thing itself.”
The knot though, is not the thing,
but only that which binds it to us,
which lets us rope it in like bucking calf,
a leashed and bleating beagle
we would train to work off-lead
without commands,
the telelogy of discipline
evolving us to a unity of purpose,
an avocality of understanding,
a good sit right when we need it
without any asking.
Language, Wonder Woman’s magic lasso,
with which we tie us up,
with which we tell the truth,
wring meaning from the stones,
the stares, the world outside
the discourse of the world.
An Intellectual Reconciliation
The brain, wrapped snug in its scarf of blood
knows it is of the body. We are the ones,
animated by its rippled tissues’ ebb and flow,
who pretend its source is other than grey matter.
We’d like to believe the dull medulla, the incessant
cerebellum are of another order than the busy cerebrum’s
pulse and thrum. We would, in fact, abstract the brain
from its fleshly distractions, claim it as an element of air, […]
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Designated Quiet Area
I need to be still, not quiet,
but I need the designation
of quietness. To breathe,
to hear the cat rasp from behind
the curtains, to hold my shoulders
slack, to find a way of being without
screaming, being screamed.
I need to see myself as someone
else, a woman capable
of cistern stillness, a stranger […]
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Marta Ferguson is the co-editor of Drawn to Marvel: Poems from the Comic Books (Minor Arcana Press, 2014), the author of Mustang Sally Pays Her Debt to Wilson Pickett (Main Street Rag, 2005), and a manuscript reader for Spark Wheel Press (http://sparkwheelpress.com/site/). Her poetry has appeared in dozens of literary magazines, including The Cortland Review, Poet Lore, So to Speak, Spillway, Rattle, and Prairie Schooner. A former poetry editor for The Missouri Review, Marta has been the sole proprietor of Wordhound Writing & Editing Services, LLC (http://www.wordhound.com) for 13 years.