Graham Words

The light of forgiveness never disappears, making sun and moon appear as poor watchmen. Its breath causes vengeance to succumb to a great silence. But what is the substance of this impassible light and breath? A man who forgives is an actor without a script, a traveler in a new city, a lousy gambler, an ethical improvisor. A man who offends is a grammatical error, a "road closed" sign in winter, a chess grandmaster, a sound moral argument. When a man forgives, he knows less about what it means than the man who offends.

To the old-fashioned egghead, the aesthete who pays heed to metaphysics and Mozart, to khakis, Oxfords, and tweed. An egghead is not an eggman, for one climbed a wall and fell. Humpty Dumpty cracked at once, yet on his clothes he did not dwell. A shaky revolt in France did Burke long grieve about, for the norms of society broke under withering doubt. But the clothing of the common, working-class socks, tees, and jeans? To the old-fashioned egghead, the worst of immoralities!

Higgledy piggledy Taylor Alison Swift Tortured poets bureau? How humorous! Ginsberg and Bukowski Epiphenomenon Such offensive jingles are ruinous!

What could be more real than that which is literal, when literal  denotes facts and the basic meaning of words? Such responsibilities of language as these appear quite direct, and there is something attractive about them, especially for more practical people. What should we say of poetry, which does not have a reputation for being particularly literal? Is it some flight into naive fantasy? Why say "puffing, heavenly pistol smoke" when "the clouds are grey" will do? Perhaps poetic devices like metaphors, similes, and personification are more fit at expressing appreciation than literal language is.  Appreciation is a virtue. Careful observation could be understood as being a goal of poetry.

Does God exist? What is time? Is dark matter real? These are some of life's greatest questions. But not all mysteries of the universe are profound. Nobody seems to know, for instance, how much spaghetti to cook without having a week's worth of leftovers.