Diatribal Writes of Passage in a World of Wintertextuality: Poems on Language, Media, and Life (but not as we know it)

By Lance Strate

The second poetry collection by Lance Strate, this volume brings together an eclectic mix of poems that address the themes of language, communication, media, technology, and poetry itself, etc.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Institute of General Semantics
• Release date: Jun 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781970164039

Lance Strate

Lance Strate is professor of communication and media studies, and a past president of the Media Ecology Association. He is the author of seven books, including Amazing Ourselves to Death: Neil Postman’s Brave New World Revisited (Peter Lang, 2014), Media Ecology: An Approach to Understanding the Human Condition (Peter Lang, 2017) and the poetry collection, Thunder at Darwin Station (NeoPoiesis, 2014).

Book preview

up in smoke

these pages caught fire

these words were consumed

only ashes were left of them

they disappeared for all time

no one will ever read

what was written here

that's the way it goes sometimes

we struggle in vain

mystery

I recall when I was very young

my parents took me to the movies

with them

and I saw those giant faces

on the screen

and I saw their lips move

and I heard the words they spoke

familiar sounds

I could almost sense their meaning

almost

almost

almost

but no

I couldn't

understand

what

they were

saying

adult talk was a foreign language to me

I dozed off

over half a century later

it's still a mystery

to me

syntagm

a detail of the moment

a seemingly trivial object

connected to a natural or architectural setting

intensifying vision, hearing

smell, taste or touch

leading to a fading but still vivid recollection

a memory of a man, woman, or child

someone of some significance

once present now absent

returning in the form of thought

conversation

observation

motivating a metaphor

putting in motion new meanings

framing the elements so that the parts hang together in a novel

arrangement

introducing a theory or hypothesis

about the nature of our collective existence

reality

biology

spirituality

leading to an emotion

deeply feltprofoundly expressed

coupled with a peculiar and unforgettable sense perception

linked to the time remembered

linked to the lingering aftereffects, the residue that remains

linked to the experience of the now

linked to the act of composition

linked to the wry conclusion

let x=y

let y=z

let it go!

you

I wrote this poem for you

for you, and only for you

others may read it

but it was not written for their eyes

others may mouth the words

but they were meant for your lips alone

others may be listening in

as I whisper these lines into your ears

but I am saying them only to you

others may think that they are the one

that I am speaking to

let them think what they will

they are not the one

it is you, and only you

and you may question

whether it is really you

and not someone else

but know, and know well and sure

it is you

you are the one

you are the only one

you

and you may wonder how it is

that I have singled you out

why you are the chosen one

when all along you thought you were

just a lonely face in the crowd

safe and comfortable in your anonymity

hiding in the plain sight

of your page or screen?

but deep down, you know

you know you are the one

you know why you are the one

why you are special

you know

and you know that if you were to ask me

am I the one?

is it really me?

I would not be able to answer you

it's just not possible

under the circumstances

maybe someday…

but for the time being

you will just have to trust me

and accept that it is you

and that only you

and I

know the truth

that we cannot speak of it

that it shall remain our silent secret

that it is you

you are the one

you are the only one

you

the poet

The poet