24 July 2008 | Vol. 8, No. 2
i said it like i said it
maybe it was babel that made it so—
the need, i mean, for a language
with no speaker. or maybe the utterance
is like a string tethered between two distant islands.
i close. i transparent want. i translate
the images in aging stones and the sounds
of songless birds. and the images
become sounds.
and i am less and less myself.
i speak it when memory fails.
i speak it when the river touches my ankles—cold
and close to meaningless.
About the author:
Cade Collum is the author of one bilingual chapbook titled The Dogs of Havana (Red Hydra Press 2008). He recently completed his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Alabama. He currently lives in Tuscaloosa.
For further reading:
See the complete list of work by Cade Collum at 42opus. Browse the contents of 42opus Vol. 8, No. 2, where "i said it like i said it" ran on July 24, 2008. List other work with these same labels: poetry.
