Forced Poem in 45 Seconds, by Freud

Always

Be

Careful

.

Don't

Ever

Forget

Going

Home

Is

Just

Keeping

Loud

Mouths

Noticeably

Open

.

People

Quite

Reservedly

Say

That

Under

Very

Wasteful

Yearnings

.

Z, is very difficult to force.

Unsatisfying

However hard she tried,

The pickle jar lid would not budge.

So she returned it to the plastic tray of the refrigerator door,

And ate a banana instead.

Phonemenon

a

the

uh

(th)-uh

How remarkable the world of differences made by a single phoneme.

Consider:

a tragedy

the tragedy

The former brings to mind a not unlimited, yet still abundant list of tragedies from which to select meaning. It turns the mind into a slot machine, or Wheel of Fortune of possibilities, each whirling through the consciousness randomly to serve as markers of meaning.

The latter stops the wheel in an instant--forcing each of us to select just one of these not unlimited choices to serve as the simulacrum of tragedy. Here, tragedy is contained within a personal schema of experience, and all emotions (grief, anger, melancholy, sorrow, sadness) contained within each individual's reaction to a single, specific encounter with the word is carried into the bloodstream in endocrinal impulses, responding to the singular sound of tip-of-tongue-on-tooth.

The tragedy.

It is a personal experience, the reading of words.

The hearing of sounds.

Conversation

How can I say this nicely? You are a fruitcake out to lunch. I have to tell you, you are not my best friend--you're not even in the top 1,000.

(How nice can a person be?)

I was thinking the other day that a friend is somebody you would tell anything to. It's true. I have people I like spending time with, but not you.

(Yes. You really should listen.)

Thomas Jefferson said that a friend is somebody you would lay your life down for. Will you be my friend?

(Nope. The circle is full.)

My friend George who commits fraud to get his cholesterol checked: He's my friend.

(It's important. I agree.)

But people don't really want to hear what you have to say, what your pain is. Go ahead: Pour your guts out. But he doesn't want to hear anything that you have to say.

(It's true.)