The Whole
The Whole
by Julie Levine
You’re tired of subdividing
everything, breaking
down the whole so
you can better understand
the whole — no one cares
about the whole because
no one can handle the whole.
You are not a person
but a series of quarks,
each tendon only a fraction
of energy. And now that
you’ve realized this
you’ve become a slave
to the business of
asphyxiating quarks
so that eventually you can
get to nothing. You’re
thinking everyone
could handle you best
if you were nothing.
Love it. A water chute plunge in self-conception. Take an idea and apply it logically to yourself, and this is what can happen. Love the way “the whole” keeps repeating at the beginning, and then “nothing” repeats itself at the end.