Negative Statement

By Steve McCaffery Steve McCaffery

two divisions.

one)

knowing. nothing. into. understand.

two)

something.

touched.

someone.

1) sequences outside of the categories

labelled ‘telephones’

e.g. the milk arrived.

2) the things all found a personal

vocabulary. every word insulted

everyone

without looking.

1) knowing nothing into understand. and

this almost said solemnly was the one

that least occurred to me.

ii) i sent my heart in the upper pocked

or perhaps we made the bed in two

seconds after we eliminated the

third floor.

and nothing else to risk but

to hear her drinking. 1)

something solemn touched something in the

upper pocket.

knowing something touched nothing without

drinking. 1)

(i love onions 2)

i told her so one.

in one second 2.

in two seconds flat

the things that change conceal

a system of ideas

for instance the trains went by to come

back on a roll of film

they were both standing in the courtyard

when i came she was

2) sitting on the steps in a mans

handwriting shutting my eyes to what

remains to be said.

1) an immense silence which had nothing to

do with silence.

2) for a long spell

a spell of weeping begins to come.

Source: Seven Pages Missing, Volume One: Selected Texts 1969-1999 (Coach House Press, 2002)

Biography

Poet Steve McCaffery was born in Sheffield, England, and earned a BA in English and philosophy from Hull University (England), an MA from York University (Toronto), and a PhD from the program in poetics, English, and comparative literature at SUNY Buffalo. A critic, poet, and professor, McCaffery was part of the Canadian avant-garde poetry scene in the 1970s. His creative work has been marked by innovation and a move away from . . .

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