They said must not, must not be said. They said it:
must not be said. Must not must not must not be said.
They settled it, way leading to a future, lately acquired,
way leading to a future tense. Must not. Said so. Said
not. Will not. I said I am throwing the words. I said
I am throwing the words around. I said something is forming.
Something is forming
I said I am throwing the words around something is forming.
(make it to me to me to me to heal me up again
make it to me to me to me to heal it up again)
Said: I am spilling the words around.
Tell sky I'm coming
Tell sky I'm coming
They are this old world getting busy with trouble now
They are getting busy with trouble this world
Now heal it up again
(make it to me to me to heal me up again)
I said I am throwing the words around something is forming.
Will be. Said will be will be said. Said it now: will be
said. Said so. Something is forming.
(make it to me to me to me to me to heal again)
— Anne Waldman, Said So, in her collection Skin Meat Bones (1983)
SAID SO.
Face: Temporary public art, color on slatted fence.
Crown: US Federal Courthouse
Saying by its nature seeks to contain. This dismaying phrase so said turns back on itself. Peruvian poet César Vallejo brings us to earth, a gravitational pull:
And what if after so much history, we succumb,
not to eternity,
but to these simple things, like being
at home, or starting to brood!
— César Vallejo, from the poem And what if after so many words