by Noel Ihebuzor and Susan Daniels
before Babel
maybe
there was a word
for this me you raise
not from anything dead
but sleeping
& deep
this me that answers
& opens
throating
every word
ever spoken
in any language
before and beyond Babel
that silent voice bubbles on
bounding and bouncing
in bundles of beautiful
babble that unbundle, bare
and bond me
with no words spoken
not needing nor heeding
any spoken word
simply
because your silence speaks
more than all words
it undoes me
my unfurled feelings
amplifying the unspoken,
filling my being with soft echoes
of sounds stronger than words
***Another spontaneous duet this week. I am loving this! Noel (regular text) and I (italicized) had a conversation in poetry in my comments. I need someone to explain to me how an American and a Nigerian can together compose something that has an almost Japanese feel to it? Whatever the reason, I simply adore the result! Thanks Noel–as always, a pleasure to volley lines with you!
Susan Daniels Poetry 
Lovely! Thanks for your poem that inspired this duet!
Thanking you right back! I was going to send the original to Dverse today, but I think I shall send this one instead. Beautiful lines you spun here, N.
your poem inspired!
Yes–I prefer our elaboration to the original!
I rename thee Modesty BLAIZE, not Blaise!
🙂
Ainu
Exactly.
Very nice, and some splendid alliteration in pt2. I’m clearly messed up, because I don’t get the Japanese flavour – but I do hear William Shatner speaking it 🙂
Darn it, I had a detailed comment ready to hit send & I lost it. Grrr. Thanks, glad you liked, and my duet partner is a master of alliteration. Love all those bees buzzing in there, and the word play.
As to the comment about the Japanese feeling, perhaps it is my sense that so much more is suggested and not actually spoken, like in haiku, but it might be just me thinking that, and not really come through in the images…
🙂 your duets are yummy.:) Love it.
Oh, Jennifer, thank you!
As an aside, thanks for the yummy–have been watching the “Iron Chef: Redemption,” and all I can think of when I read that word is Jeff Z saying it 😉
🙂
nice…always enjoying it as well when you two volley lines…smiles…loved it…esp. all the
bubbles and bounding and bouncing in bundles…fun…ha…nice…
Thank you, Claudia–we have so much fun doing this, it is addictive. As for Noel & his alliteration–he spins out alliteration so masterfully and spontaneously…fun to read and I am a little jealous of that ability!
Another wonderful duet
Thank you, Boomie! We do need to try a trio soon 😉
Babel made intelligible…I love this…
oh, thank you!
just wonderful.
Thank you, Miriam.
must be wonderful to be able to speak in poetry, one poet to another, so easily. or is it? wonderful…not easy. brings me to an old place, a place where language was spoken for it’s meaning and NOT to hear oneself speak. you two amaze and inspire, not just each other’s voices, but our hearts. wonderful S & N.
Oh, gosh–how to respond to such a wonderful comment… First, thanks. Second, actually it IS easy to spin lines when your partner is as gifted as N is. Like what you have to say about that old place–I think it was written from there, as I woke up with “every word/ever spoken/in any language” percolating in my brain yesterday morning, and managed to grab those lines before they slipped away 😉
Lucky for us you did. You are a true poet my lovely friend, and your heart must work overtime when you dream. Lucky you choose to share that with us.
Aw, thanks, SFAM! Glad you liked it.
Heh–mind if I steal that “speaking from an old place” sometime?
what’s mine is yours…always!
Thanks, again… You always inspire me!
That is an amazement all unto itself. Thank you.
besides…a wise old (relax, just a manner of speaking) poet once said to me…once it’s on the page, we no longer own it. yes? yes!
Yes. Hahaha Feeling old–I need to touch up my roots–the silver is a showin’
silver is the color of my true friend’s hair. hahaha (mine too, so we are all good there)
🙂 it is all this one streak on the right side… Everything else is still my original color–that is, if I can REMEMBER what color my hair is…
Oh My…I have a streak of white on the right side also…my Mother keeps telling me to let it alone…but Cruella Deville I am NOT. Cool tho huh?
Hey–we match–we share the same graying pattern–explains why you inspire me so easily 😉
does this mean we are right brained? or is it the opposite? either way, sfam is not for nothing!
Too true–we carry the mark of SFAM-hood 😉
Amazing!!
Thanks, Laurie!
Another cool poem. Anything that starts with “Before Babel” is just so daggone intriguing. Things we typically don’t think about – What came before language? What came before the wheel? etc. Love it.
Terry, thank you. Hmmm. There was a time before words, there must have been, and there was a way to speak without them. Wow, you just woke my muse up again, Terry.
🙂
It’s called the power of the muse, and yes the power of connectivity. It has nothing to do with location. You guys just connect so beautifully. Well done, super poets. 🙂
Oh, Gosh, Celestine–thanks! I think it’s great–this composing together across thousands of miles 🙂