Kismet by Diane Ackerman
Kismet
Diane Ackerman“What can be said can’t be said,
and can’t be whistled either.”
– WittgensteinWittgenstein was wrong: when lovers kiss
they whistle into each other’s mouth
a truth old and sayable as the sun,
for flesh is palace, aurora borealis,
and the world is all subtraction in the end.The world is all subtraction in the end,
yet, in a small vaulted room at the azimuth
of desire, even our awkward numbers sum.
Love’s syllogism only love can test.But who would quarrel with its sprawling proof?
The daftest logic brings such sweet unrest.
Love speaks in tongues, its natural idiom.
Tingling, your lips drift down the xylophone
of my ribs, and I close my eyes and chime.
MARGINALIA
Bought a friend’s old book as she is preparing to leave for Canada. Parting with books is never easy – I always have a difficult time letting go of works which probably knew me better than I know myself. But imagine passing them on to someone else, someone who is looking for her life, too, among the pages:
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems by Diane Ackerman, published by Vintage Books, 1993. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
ABOUT DIANE ACKERMAN
A poet, essayist, and naturalist, Diane Ackerman earned an MFA and a PhD from Cornell University. She is well known for both her poetry and her nonfiction writing. Her books of prose include The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us (2014), a New York Times bestseller and winner of the PEN Henry David Thoreau Prize; the memoir One Hundred Names for Love (2011), finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; The Zookeeper’s Wife (2007), winner of the… (more)
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ENDNOTES
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billy423uk
Haven’t read much of Dianne Ackerman (more my partner’s thing) but I really enjoyed this