Social Theory

 

It was time for a social theory.
People were just standing around.
The penalty for creating new languages was death:
for oneself, one’s family, and nine related families.
I was putting drinks on tables
and walking away from them.
The piano lying on its side
represented the degree of my unhappiness.
I was only trying to find my drink
and to communicate without lying—
All the while the people sang
to the dust on the piano and I was writing
the last sentences in the world that were true.
If I didn’t become anything,
at least I would have that much.
A dark stranger, maybe my social theory,
stood around with its hands in its jacket pockets.
It was drinking from all my glasses.
I couldn’t stop it.

Aus: Komm her o Klarheit! luxbooks 2009
Original aus: The Captain Lands in Paradise. Alice James Books, 2002

Sarah Manguso    14.05.2009