Babel

this is the way the world begins
in darkness
tangled and heretical
lost in cloth and voices
unworded
close together and
unseparated from each other
fixed on the gaps that form
between the unfamiliar lines
of your skin

we were bricks once
before this world we were bricks
cleanly mortared
still damp
completed
perfected
polished
redeemed
unblemished
unmarked
unlabeled
undifferentiated
unplaced by our own hand
unsupported by bedrock layers
standing on our counterpart images
in alternating even spacings
at such unatmospheric heights
that we could believe
the gravity
and winds
would only weakly hold

we should lie in bed forever
we should gaze at the ceiling
unspeaking but unsilenced
we should hum our thoughts
we should watch the phosphorescent
adhesive constellations
to know if they ever
rotate with the days

we will not blink

we will not blink
before they are dried out
with years curling at the edges
and falling
falling as snow with their
fine mythological arrangements
indistinct jumbled lost and

we will fly above

we will fly above
gazing down
over their scatter and
we will hold hands
to trace out their lineage
star to star
to star to star
in each other’s fingertips
we will mumble together
in each other’s lips
we will hum different stories
we will hum new origins
new bits of creations and
we will give them
different names

we were together once
when we were bricks
we were together
when we were joined up
at smooth boundary lines
marked with clean mortar
when we were arranged
in rows in columns in
harmonic intervals
when we had slid beyond speech
when we had discovered music
when we were occupied with
uninterrupted chanting
free of meaning and
full of words

this is the way the world begins
in darkness
running
tripping down the hallway
bending the loose floorboards
hand in hand

we should run

we should run
we should crash

we should crash out the doorway
we should break through the window
we should tumble the steps down
outside where it is still winter
we should dance in the shards
left of the smooth glass surface
we should fuck on the sidewalk
we should draw our new letters
in snow
in shards
in multicolored chalk
in confusion
in multiple voices
in disharmony
in conflict
in constellations
in separate concrete rectangles
different and differently
in darkness

we should read our message
we should read our secret
uninterrupted
in mutual confusion
we should tell each other that
all these thoughts are real
and none are lasting

all these thoughts are real
and none are lasting

all these thoughts are real
and none are lasting

all these thoughts are real
and none are

this is the way we are constructed
this is the way we grow ourselves
of bone
of joint
of tendon
of the cartilaginous pieces
of the interstitial
fluids placed like mortar
flowing amorphous
of all these crude organs
dissimilar and unseparated
by form
by function
by cellular membrane
by the imprisoning textures
of the capillary wall
sewn with nerves
with their synaptic connections
with their neurotransmitter cacophony
projecting outward
through these movements
through the muscular transmutations
through these heartbeats
through simple noise

through simple noise
this is the way the world

this is the way the world begins
in darkness
unplaced and remembering
and remembering
that we were bricks
built on each other
to these unatmospheric heights
in full knowledge
in the distance down
in flat solidity
and disbelieving

this construction would be lasting
and disbelieving
we would rise through
built on each other
to these unatmospheric heights
and disbelieving
we would rise through
to the farther heavens but
in the descent of the inevitable
we might spend new lifetimes
in the fall

we should run down the sidewalk
bleeding at the heel
we should leave behind
we should gather each other
at the factory doors
we should take up the bricks
of the smokestack tower fragments
falling as constellations
in the snow

we should rebuild
we should build our smokestack tower
upward and now
while the world is new
and rushed with wonder

the world is new
and rushed with wonder

the world is new
and rushed with wonder

the world is new
and rushed

this is the way the world begins
in darkness
huddled each to each
untouching and
both eyes unopened
our eyes are not yet open

it is still winter outside and
when it is warmed we
should gather in the old factory
at the base of our smokestack tower
we should rise up again
mixed together
as smoke
as dust and
all our new letters jumbled
spreading out in
the unatmospheric heights
unseparated together

this is the way the world begins
in darkness
huddled
eyes unopened
confused
unremembering
built on bone and synapse
and humming that
all these thoughts are real
and humming that
the world in new
and rushed with wonder
like constellations
like letters
like gaps
like shards
like bricks
like smoke
like dust
like snow

this is the way
we hum our secrets

this is the way
the world is new

this is the way
I can see you
unopened
in darkness

I can hear you
huddled
silent
covered

I can know you
unremembered

I can feel you
I can still feel you
separated
by air and by mortar

I can still tell you
the world is new

I can still tell you
unworded
and chanting

I can still find you
lost in the constellations
scattered on the bedcloths
tangled
heretical

I can still see you
I can still see you

I can still see you
in darkness

this is the way the world begins