(Untitled)

[sumbitch]

For Judith

"...and this word
bumping around in the landscape..."
   -Judith Barrington

But it's a soft word, Judith!
If you said a word for its softness,
you might say billowy,
or valley floor, or lesbian.
If you made up an unbumpy sound
you might come out with ahloovay,
or elyamoor, or lesbian.The ell, the zz, the buh, the nn

Comments

[bateleur]

I'm crying, and isn't that just like a girl?

Girls are people too ? Who knew ?! ;-)

[peachy_penumbra]

AHHHHH!!! I LOVE IT AND YOU!!!

(and not just because it's my name)

except yeah

Well, we are girls, so I think it's okay. Here's what I think about you--I think you're soft and compassionate and lovely... AND hardcore. And I think that's just fine. Everyone has to define their own boundaries and float in and out of their "categories," right?

[sumbitch]

I don't know if you're missing the point or just don't agree with it... I see it as a reply to someone who, like you, finds the word harsh. She points out that the actual syllables are quite nice, and then, at the end, that nice words sometimes stand for painful things. And that perhaps Judith's aesthetic objections to the word are not so aesthetic after all.

What do you think?

[domestinatrix]

I remember seeing this pinned up in your beautiful farmhousey kitchen in Ithaca. It was the first time i went to visit you there, the first time i got to meet Bizzy. I remember being so impressed and a little envious, but not in a bitter jealous sort of way.