THINKING IN BABEL Christopher Damien Auretta THINKING IN BABEL Edições Colibri Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal – Catalogação na Publicação AURETTA, Christopher, 1955- Thinking in Babel. – 1ª ed. – (Extra-colecção) ISBN 978-989-689-634-8 CDU 821.111(73)-4”20” Título: Thinking in Babel Autor: Christopher Damien Auretta Editor: Fernando Mão de Ferro Capa: Raquel Fernandes Depósito legal n.º 420 264/17 Lisboa, Janeiro de 2017 CONTENTS A SMALL ATLAS OF EARTH IN RECOLLECTION OF LEGACIES AND PATTERNS OF GROWTH (I, II, III) I. LIVE FROM EARTH (2004) ..................................................................... 15 Preface .............................................................................................................. 17 Live from Earth (i) ............................................................................................ 25 Live from Earth (ii) ........................................................................................... 26 Eros, etc. ........................................................................................................... 27 Oedipus before Jocasta’s Tomb ........................................................................ 29 On Pedagogy ..................................................................................................... 30 Foreign Travel .................................................................................................. 31 Note to a Writer Momentarily Disabled ........................................................... 32 Gustave Flaubert Visits a Lover Then Recalls Emma Bovary ......................... 33 What Theory Says ............................................................................................. 34 Autumn ............................................................................................................. 35 First Draft (i) ..................................................................................................... 36 On The Speech of Bipeds ................................................................................. 37 Anti-Genesis (i-ii) ............................................................................................. 38 Anti-Genesis (iii) .............................................................................................. 39 On Poetics: Theory (i-ii) ................................................................................... 40 Biped Poem ....................................................................................................... 41 On Poetics: Practicum (i-ii) .............................................................................. 43 Ophelia’s Dream ............................................................................................... 44 First Draft (ii) .................................................................................................... 45 A Few Final Words (i-v) ................................................................................... 46 Free Speech ....................................................................................................... 48 Travelogue ........................................................................................................ 49 Haiku (i-vi) .................................................................................................. 51-56 Take Your Clothes Off ..................................................................................... 57 ee/pp/ii/tt/aa/pp/hh ............................................................................................ 58 Stop, Look, Listen ............................................................................................. 59 Antique Poem ................................................................................................... 60 5 Christopher Damien Auretta A Walk in the Woods ....................................................................................... 61 Driving Lessons ................................................................................................ 62 Doing Things with Words: a Compendium ...................................................... 63 Aquellos Ojos Verdes ........................................................................................ 64 Sources of Parable (i-ii) .................................................................................... 65 Emma Bovary’s Eulogy .................................................................................... 66 Ibrahim .............................................................................................................. 67 Family Tree ....................................................................................................... 68 Gregor Samsa .................................................................................................... 69 Welcome ........................................................................................................... 71 Literature and Science: Early Signs .................................................................. 73 Postmodern Ode (1-30, 0- -3) ........................................................................... 81 Monologue ........................................................................................................ 95 II. UNEARTHED EPISTEMOLOGIES (2005) ........................................... 97 Preface .............................................................................................................. 99 What Remains ................................................................................................. 107 Magister Dixit ................................................................................................. 108 On Learning Greek ......................................................................................... 109 Five Grains of Sand ........................................................................................ 110 At Fifty ........................................................................................................... 111 What Is Unbearable ........................................................................................ 112 Brassaï’s Photographs ..................................................................................... 114 Wangari Maathai ............................................................................................ 115 The Umbrellas of Cherbourg .......................................................................... 116 Primo Levi’s Carbon ....................................................................................... 117 Between Moth and Larva ................................................................................ 118 1985 ................................................................................................................ 119 There’s Something Strange ............................................................................. 120 Hurry ............................................................................................................... 121 Make It So ...................................................................................................... 122 This Uneasy Feeling ....................................................................................... 123 Drink Plenty of Water ..................................................................................... 124 I Need to Know Why ...................................................................................... 125 There’s No Subject Ready .............................................................................. 126 6 Thinking in Babel Π and Κ ........................................................................................................... 127 What Do We Say, to Whom and Why? .......................................................... 128 Somewhere in the Intersection ........................................................................ 129 Poem for Meletus ............................................................................................ 131 The Spot Where Dreams ................................................................................. 132 Adynata, Anaphora, Anacoluthon .................................................................. 133 The Day You Became Indispensable .............................................................. 134 Reading, Writing and Arithmetic .................................................................... 135 A Typographical Error .................................................................................... 136 The New Global Network ............................................................................... 138 Il Trionfo dell’Innocenza ................................................................................ 139 In Remembrance of Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) ........................................ 140 So Nothing ...................................................................................................... 141 So Everything ................................................................................................. 142 Memory: What the Sky Sees: Prometheus Addresses His Maternal Lineage: Gaia, Themis, Clymene and Io .................................................................... 143 III. A SMALL ATLAS OF EARTH (2006) ................................................ 149 Preface ............................................................................................................ 151 On Sailing and