Word of the Week - 86

Painting "One Flew Over the Wasps Nest" by Vladimir Kush.

Word of the Week:  DUALITY

Want

by Carrie Fountain 

 

The wasps outside
the kitchen window
are making that
thick, unraveling sound
again, floating in
and out of the bald head
of their nest,
seeming not to move
while moving,
and it has just occurred
to me, standing,
washing the coffeepot,
watching them hang
loosely in the air—thin
wings; thick, elongated
abdomens; sad, down—
pointing antennae—
that this
is the heart’s constant
project: this simple
learning; learning
how to hold
hopelessness
and hope together;
to see on the unharmed
surface of one
the great scar
of the other; to recognize
both and to make
something of both;
to desire everything
and nothing
at once and to desire it
all the time;
and to contain that desire
fleshly, in a body;
to wash it and rest it
and feed it; to learn
its name and from whence
it came; and to speak
to it—oh, most of all
to speak to it—
every day, every day,
saying to one part,
“Well, maybe this is all
you get,” while saying
to the other, “Go on,
break it open, let it go.”

“Want” by Carrie Fountain from Burn Lake. © Penguin, 2010. Reprinted with permission. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The quality of being both, at the same time

duality [djuːˈælɪtɪ]

n pl -ties

1. the state or quality of being two or in two parts; dichotomy

2. (Physics / General Physics) Physics the principle that a wave-particle duality exists in microphysics in which wave theory and corpuscular theory are complementary. The propagation of electromagnetic radiation is analysed using wave theory but its interaction with matter is described in terms of photons. The condition of particles such as electrons, neutrons, and atoms is described in terms of de Broglie waves

3. (Mathematics) Geometry the interchangeability of the roles of the point and the plane in statements and theorems in projective geometry

 

Items 2 and 3 are beyond - let's say for now - my ability to process.  Item 1 seems to be the plinth from which my life rises.  When I wonder at my fatigue, I need to remember how much energy it takes to maintain balance.

It is too soon to know much beyond the fact that duality not only exists but has hired the caterers, picked the music and arranged the lighting.  I show up and hope I can find my place card.

This is not a new theme.  It has been shouting at me in its outdoor voice, growing more and more insistent, inescapable, for at least six months.  I hope the condition becomes less dizzying over time.  I more than half suspect this is the natural order of things.  It gets so little press because - then what?  

As my friend Patricia once said, "Hang on to your sunsuit straps."  We are in unknown territory.