Stoa

Stoa ( The Porch)

Internal Affairs

morphophonemic
algorithms: rules
& patterns for
sounds in an
environment
generating
plural allophones,
say, as well as
variations on
forms for past
tense

External Affairs

warm wind
stirring leaves on
Jones Mountain,
squirrels scolding
birds behaving
badky: afternoon
sun lighting a
yellow pine &
motorcycles opening
up down Riceville
Road.

my gut
my butt
my new
anti-gravity
lounge chair
my autonomic
nervous system
my respiration
my inspiration
in between
internal & external
affairs

The difference & the relationship between
ternary and e-ternary organization:
ENVIRON-MENTALISM

Am I aware my voiced-to-voiceless alveolar fricative
plural-variations depends upon—is governed by—the
environmental conditions of the final segments of the
noun I unconsciously pluralize?

How do I do this? What does it take to lift a finger?
tongue-tap the alveolar ridge? maintain the valved
hum of a low-back vowel? the glide of a voiced
glottal? How do I sustain such unconscious
capabilities & environed mentalism?

Once Faulkner & Joyce exposed their streams
of unconsciousness offending my linear habits
of beginnings, middles, & endings; and then
MTV, damnit, began generating constellations
of imagery non sequitur to whatever lyrical
sequence was going on & on, and my sense
of Show & Tell took a hit, ambushed by internal
providential explosive devices until it became clear
to me what a merely convenient truth a sequence
is—& because & affect.

TINKLER TINKLER
TINKLER TINKLER
TINKLER

that loud bird
wakes me every
afternoon at 4:45
redundant
rule-driven
repetitive
predictable
part of the
grammar
of my back
yard conversation

xxxooo, Presbyter