24 July 2008 | Vol. 8, No. 2

i said it like i said it

by CADE COLLUM

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.