Anagrammer

ANAGRAMMER

by Peter Pereira from What's Written on the Body (Copper Canyon Press)

 

If you believe in the magic of language,

then Elvis really Lives

and Princess Diana foretold I end as car spin.

 

If you believe the letters themselves

contain a power within them,

then you understand

what makes outside tedious,

how desperation becomes a rope ends it.

 

The circular logic that allows senator to become treason,

and treason to become atoners.

 

That eleven plus two is twelve plus one,

and an admirer is also married.

 

That if you could just rearrange things the right way

you’d find your true life,

the right path, the answer to your questions:

you’d understand how the Titanic

turns into that ice tin,

and debit card becomes bad credit.

 

How listen is the same as silent,

and not one letter separates stained from sainted.

 

    I do believe in the magic of words, especially when those words are strung together to create a poem or woven together to tell a story.  If I didn't believe in this magic, I wouldn't be sitting at my computer early on a Saturday morning typing this . . . I'd still be in bed, or drinking a cup of coffee listening to the birds sing, or getting dressed to head to the farmer's market. 

 

    You'd think believing the power of words would cause me to choose my words carefully.  And while sometimes I do, more often I do not.  I too often speak without thinking, spit out the first words that fall onto my tongue rather than swallowing them to remain silent or holding onto them until they melt into softer utterances.  Maybe the problem is I don't believe strongly enough in the magic of ordinary words spoken in the course of my daily life. 

 

    Again, I am reminded of the words of John of the Cross as translated by Daniel Ladinsky, "They can be like a sun, words.  They can do for the heart what light can for a field."

 

    Today I will look for ways my words can be light.  I invite you to do the same.