Words and Signs

It was Saussure who said
that words and signs are not
always one.

Random is their relationship
as he had it defined.
A word is what it is by being
what it is not.

Just as the word
man is by being what
it is not—woman.


But it is this world of
construct that we are
born into.

We have to relate to
each other using
our words and our signs.

These words and signs
that mean what they mean
and mean what they do not mean.


In this imperfect world,
I have to relate to you.
To say what I want to say
only to say what I do not want to say.

I have no other choice
than to be this:

Born in this imperfect world,
using these imperfect words and signs,
I cannot help but be
who I am
by not being you.

And not be who
I am by being
who I really am.

MRG

Discovering Sharon Olds

True Love
by Sharon Olds


In the middle of the night, when we get up
after making love, we look at each other in
complete friendship, we know so fully
what the other has been doing. Bound to each other
like mountaineers coming down from a mountain,
bound with the tie of the delivery room,
we wander down the hall to the bathroom, I can
hardly walk, I wobble through the granular
shadowless air, I know where you are
with my eyes closed, we are bound to each other
with huge invisible threads, our sexes
muted, exhausted, crushed, the whole
body a sex—surely this
is the most blessed time of my life,
our children asleep in their beds, each fate
like a vein of abiding mineral
not discovered yet. I sit
on the toilet in the night, you are somewhere in the room,
I open the window and snow has fallen in a
steep drift, against the pane, I
look up, into it,
a wall of cold crystals, silent
and glistening, I quietly call to you
and you come and hold my hand and I say
I cannot see beyond it. I cannot see beyond it.

podcast<br>Sharon Olds: 2003, from LITTORAL: the journal of the Key West Literary Seminar

podcast
Sharon Olds: 2003, from LITTORAL: the journal of the Key West Literary Seminar

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Just When You Thought You've Heard it All

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV"



I read this article today at PDI. here

Take your pick. How do you think ICRC Swiss kidnap victim Andreas Notter got away from the dreaded Abu Sayyaf's viselike grip?

A. He was rescued.
B. He escaped.
C. He paid (or his negotiators) ransom.
D. He followed the stars to escape.

Military officials and Senator Richard Gordons, current Philippine national Red Cross Chair, at first couldn't give a common answer. The AFP says Notter escaped, but was able to do so because of the military pressure applied against the Abu Sayyaf. Gordon, on the other hand, claim that he was simply released, without any aid from the military whatsoever.


But now, Notter's official answer is---you wouldn't believe this-D! Notter, before leaving the country, left a text message wherein he basically said that he "escaped captivity in the jungle by following the star." Richard Gordon seems to buy this theory by adding that, "“He (Notter) knows how to navigate by the stars. He knows where the North, South, East and West were. So he followed that until he came to the road.”


Unbelievable! After 3 months in captivity and intense military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf, Nottter escaped unharmed by simply following the star's direction. At the moment, only one kidnapped victim is left in the terrorist group's hand, Italian Eugenio Vagni. Prior to all of this, a Filipina ICRC was freed after much negotiation and grumbling between the military, government officials, Gordon, Muslim leaders and the Abu Sayyaf. The Abu Sayyaf kept on giving a deadline and a beheading schedule for its victims, but never pushed through with its threat. As usual, the government's official mantra in these scenario is that no money was ever involved in their release as it strictly adheres to the "no ransom policy." But of course, people always speculate and know otherwise.

I could only pray that the last kidnap victim Vagni gets released soon. Accordingly, he has several medical conditions which need appropriate treatment. I doubt it if he could last more than a year of captivity like the Burnhams. And once he gets released, I really wouldn't be surprised anymore if Vagni's rationale for his escape is that he followed the cows or something. So his official statement would go something like this: "It was dark and I somehow lost my captors. By dawn I saw a herd of cattle and quickly followed their direction. It lead me to a quiet town. I walked several kilometers before I saw police station. I told them who I was and they brought me to the city's official. I was just lucky, I guess."