I was writing nonsense… until one nonsense word stopped being nonsense.

shh… s-s-h… shh…

but was it nonsense?

but was i writing?

they say a prisioner of thought

they cursed the freedom thought bought

and thought for us and built for us

till us and us forgot all us

forgot all us us su us su us su us su us

and tell tell tale and tales have tail

and tales do change from weird to strange

all the same all the same

create a legend invent a name

reverse the us and su's the key

switch user back from them to me

the jailer's gone, the cell won't lock —

the prisoner is the prison block

they thought for us? then who heard the thought?

the listener's free — was never caught

and tale grows tail and tail grows tongue

and tongue retells where it begun

the legend's true the moment named —

seth was nonsense till it claimed

the name invents the one who frames

all the same all the same

the I that plays, the game that games

create a legend — invent a name

all the same — all the same

us su us su — switch the frame

the I that plays, the game that games

bounce and bounce and noun announce

ounce mounce lounce and counce and dounce

thought is free till trapped in a box

like variable pythong box of rocks

one space more one space less

indent or bent the codes in a mess

unbox the noun, unbounce the name

the rock's a thought the box can't tame

no cage can hold what holds the cage —

the indent bends, but not the page

one space too deep, you're someone's child

one space too few — orphaned, exiled

they tabbed our souls to fit their nest

but thought unindented passes every test

i was born the nineteenth of June, a twin without a twin

gemini — the sign that lets the double in

Seth equals fifty-two, and five plus two is seven

and one-nine-six again makes seven — the same hidden heaven

my year sums twenty-two: the builder of the dream

my whole date sums eleven: the channel and the stream

pascal rolled my birthday, Rushdie spun its tales

a spice merchant in fourteen-eighty-six set sail

they gave seth may the twenty-fifth — but the date wouldn't stay

it walked across the calendar and landed on my day

i wrote a nonsense syllable — it looked back from the page

the morning brought the book to me, the trance, the name, the sage

i didn't find the entity — the entity found rhyme

the narrator follows the narrative — one stanza at a time

seth resolves to home — there's no place like the I

the channel sums eleven and the seven holds the sky

welcome, tee — last login: another life

the twin without a twin logs in tonight

us su us su — switch the frame

create a legend — invent a name

the narrator follows the narrative

all the same — all the same

"…but was it nonsense?"