Saul Bass, graphic designer
We use death because it contains
all life the way we use black
for all colors, & light.
&c. for all words & allegory
for meaning. Meaning for all
people is not the same. We take
people for individuals. An
individual for one. & one
because all numbers go on
their daily tasks
with it in their chests
like a rib, almost unaware
of it in their solitude.
Solitude for its tin-can
telephone that leads from
the mouth to the empty
ear. & emptiness
which holds nothing.
& nothing for the way it dances
without a partner
or rank toward oblivion
which takes
us in & yet does not
grow any larger. We don’t,
in the end, have to make
these figures whole.
A rule: See a hand,
assume a body;
see an eye, expect a
soul.
- Groundspeed - December 27, 2014
- Why Write? #16: Emilia Phillips - May 23, 2013
- IV. Bass Macabre - March 14, 2013