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 Word Not฀just฀a฀syllable,฀a฀ululation,฀click,฀roll,฀slur,฀trill.฀I฀want the฀whole฀damn฀thing,฀the฀roller-coaster฀ride฀of฀consonant,฀vowel, accent฀and฀innuendo.฀I฀want฀serendipity฀do-da,฀I฀want฀somnambulant rapture,฀and฀I฀want฀it฀mal,฀bad—malcontented,฀maladjusted,฀ maloccluded. I฀want฀it฀alpha฀and฀penultimate—there฀is฀no฀end.฀I฀want฀the฀sound and฀everything฀it฀conjures฀up,฀the฀surprise—that฀wasp฀nest still฀clinging฀to฀the฀eaves฀of฀memory,฀thin฀paper฀that฀seems฀empty but฀buzzes฀to฀life฀with฀a฀little฀warming—or฀should฀I฀say฀warning— a฀little฀onomatopoeic฀poltergeist฀in฀my฀head,฀a฀haunting,฀a฀mesh of฀sound฀and฀moment,฀fit฀tight฀as฀tiles฀in฀a฀Moroccan฀mosaic, or฀the฀cowry฀shell฀wrapped฀about฀its฀softer฀insides,฀the฀subtle pianissimo฀of฀what฀it฀is—these฀sounds฀our฀companions,฀linking฀us one฀to฀another฀like฀some฀species฀specific฀duet—or฀should฀I฀say diet—the฀panda฀and฀its฀bamboo,฀the฀koala฀and฀its฀eucalyptus,฀how things฀are฀joined฀as,฀when฀I฀say฀a฀word—veranda,฀for฀example— or฀a฀name,฀Einstein—it฀never฀means฀strictly฀what฀I฀want฀it฀to because฀of฀the฀baggage,฀everything฀it฀ever฀was—including฀฀ the฀madness— everything฀the฀seine฀net฀of฀memory฀can฀hold—squirming฀shiners, bits฀of฀vegetation,฀muck฀and฀grit฀and฀algae—the฀small,฀the฀smell฀of฀it, so฀that฀even฀now,฀dry฀and฀propped฀against฀the฀garage,฀this฀net฀teems, the฀wind฀catching฀at฀its฀webbing,฀the฀primal฀smell฀like฀bedsheets after฀sex—a฀skin,฀a฀skein฀of฀sound,฀whirl฀of฀x฀and฀y,฀both฀cargo and฀carriage—like฀any฀word—part฀cure,฀part฀tremor฀at฀the฀core. ...

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