you know
there's
nobody home

echo

know no
home body no
nobody home

echo

no no no
nobody you know
nobody home

echo

there's home you know
you can't do that
nobody home

echo

you can't
there's do that
there's no you know
nobody home

echo

that body
you can't do
there's no home
nobody home

echo

nobody no nobody
you can't
you know you can't
do that
nobody home

echo

nobody
you can't do that
know no know
you can't do that
nobody home

echo

nobody know nobody
no you can't
can't you there's
no you can't
nobody home

echo

you can't do that
no no no
you can't do that
you know you know
you can't do that
there's no echo no
know nobody there's
nobody home

Rory..I don't understand the concept of this. Is it a chant, meant to be an aural painting in lieu of literal sense? It reminds me of a field holler or work song.

I find it intriguing, and may understand it better if I could actually hear it performed.

fogglethorpe wrote:

Rory..I don't understand the concept of this. Is it a chant, meant to be an aural painting in lieu of literal sense? It reminds me of a field holler or work song. I find it intriguing, and may understand it better if I could actually hear it performed.

Hmmmm..... I'm not sure what an aural painting is.... this one is certainly meant to be heard rather than read on a page....

There is actually a significance to it - the idea is to drain away meaning (like with my recent "she was a visitor") and replace it with the idea of emptiness (nobody home) reinforced by repetition (you will find it at the end of each stanza). "no no no, you can't do that" also reinforces the "no" sound and message, although with this part of the poem I am rather less confident about its inclusion.

In the end it's all about non-self and non-assertion.

Rory..by "aural painting" I meant that the main idea was phonetics and rhythm rather than message.

fogglethorpe wrote:

Rory..by "aural painting" I meant that the main idea was phonetics and rhythm rather than message.

OK, that's certainly part of it, but there is also a message that is intended to come through.

So the message is, "there is no message"? That actually makes sense.

I like the poem. I liked it initially, and I like it more now that you have helped me understand it better. That's why I am so intrigued. It is simple and complex at the same time.

fogglethorpe wrote:

So the message is, "there is no message"? That actually makes sense. I like the poem. I liked it initially, and I like it more now that you have helped me understand it better. That's why I am so intrigued. It is simple and complex at the same time.

Thanks. I figure these explorations of sound poetry are not going to be widely appreciated. However, I don't choose the words at random, there's a significance to them. You might say that this one is to bring the reader to an understanding that there is no message and no messenger.

Contradictions like that are powerful literary devices when used well. This is. My appreciation for this poem has increased after our conversation.

Is this idea from Buddhist doctrine?

fogglethorpe wrote:

Is this idea from Buddhist doctrine?

Yes, the idea of no self (which I once heard expressed by a monk as "when you look inside yourself there's nobody home"), no ownership, no substance, accepting the flux of life.