One word poems are the quantum heart of language
by Stephen Nelson

 

One word poems are the quantum heart of language. Every syllable, every letter counts. A word exists to be teased, torn, split and reformed in ways which make the alphabet shudder. This allows new and unexpected meanings to spark in the reader’s mind. In fact, the reader helps create the poem. The poet shuffles a word; the reader picks a bunch of meaning. What could be more beautiful than a word in solitude, a hermit word, alchemised by wind and fire? And a word alone on a clean, white page is an idea being born in the mind of God. No one mangles language like the pwoermdist, the poet of the single word. Yet no one loves or explores or analyses a word more passionately. I am a pwoermdist. I’ll be a pwoermdist till I die. Or till language dies. The one word poet assists with that, but always brings us back something new. A pwoermd is a word reborn.

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