Origin of Poetry

[Alan Sondheim]

Origin of Poetry

First the owner George Steinbrenner (sp) came to mind.
I couldn't remember the name of the manager.
I tried and tried and thought, if I didn't want to remember it, I would.
Over and over again, and then a rhythm came to my mind.
It was dah dah di, dah dah di.
I knew it was connected with the name.
Joe Torre (sp) or Torres (sp), that was the name I was thinking of.
But first, it was the incantation, dah dah di, that rhythm.
The rhythm appeared before the name, incantatory.
I thought this is similar to the condition of pausological constructs.
For example, "This is what I wanted to do, but {pause} ...".
The pause is _after_ the conjunction.
The structure is _already_ fulfilled.
It's the same with incantation, the structure is there.
(The structure which is _always_ there beforehand.)
Or rhyme, the structure is there. Alliteration.
But the incantatory preceded the name, the name a singularity.
Connected with the choratic rhythm of the body.
Disconnected momentarily with the name.
Establishing the rhythm of the name.
Establishing the name as a placeholder of the name.
A placeholder of the name that was generated by the name.
Or generated by the sound or the rigid designator of structure.
Rigid designator of structure and placeholder intertwined.
The intermeshing of primordial impulse.
Primordial in the sense of gesture and incantatory gesture.
Incantation is gesture, gesture incantation.
Every word tends towards others of its kind.
Poetry of incantation, weight of language, predecessor of name.
The _moment_ of the name in incantation.
The _call_ of Joe Torre (sp) in the primordial rhythm of the name.
The _sounding_ of Joe Torre and the world.

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