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Rafael Barreto-Rivera

Scrabble Babble Recording, 1984

Untitled Poem

  • If you're making a sound that already has meaning,
  • you take away as much meaning as you can.
  • If you're making a sound that has very little meaning,
  • you give it as much meaning as you can.
    • Think of a horse guiding a camel.
    • Think of a camel astride which
    • the human voice is riding.
    • The voice is yours.
    • The camel belongs to someone else...

      En Esperanto Espero

      (for Barrie)

      • If a, then a.
      • If a then a, then a again.
      • If a then a then a again, then a again
      • and a again, and a again
      • without encountering b
      • in this short journey.
        • B does arise in time,
        • out of a wish or need for b, denying
        • other elements.
          • For a time, that is, until
          • the literature of c asserts itself
          • in this small library, reminding one of a
          • before a was engendered.
          • If a, then a:
          • no more than a, no less than a
          • not equal to
          • nor larger than
          • than a.
            • If a, then a , and a.
            • B does not change this,
            • except that it comes later,
            • like a burst of rain.