sweet

Then there are the ends of poems, which are in Trakl's works the ends of all juxtapositions except the one between black print and white page, and in a sonnet they are suddenly two lines rhyming in succession where before the rhyming lines were separated by other rhyming lines but now these two rhymes are like a pair of feet stamping, one, two, like a pair of ritual taps or raps or when a staff is knocked on the floor or a bell rung: the impact is percussive, a pair of thrusts and a contact -- rhymes being contacts I think, one set of letters intimately headbutting another, and not behaving as letters do in a word when they are clumped together and given a meaning that has nothing to do with their personalities; a t is forced to participate in the word feather without its consent when feather is out of character for a t, the t saying T! and the feather saying fuh fuh fuh thhh.

But rhyme or alliteration pays attention respectfully to the natures and personalities of letters as those personalities are expressed by the softness or hardness of their shapes and the sound they make as individuals; it pays a different kind of attention to them and makes them meet others who might be their friends: they go on this blind date to see if they feel natural together in this meeting and encounter that is expected, and not a juxtaposition as Trakl juxtaposes, with the nonexpectedness of the two words being the important thing there, and drawing attention to the words, sweet and corpse, or bleak and crystal, being surprising and jarring, but the partner in a rhyme is expected like the Messiah and arrives serenely, it is the second knock, it is the second shoe, it is received with joy and relief, it is satisfaction in miniature, it is the expected coming; it is the end of a world that began with its partner, oh world, oh bubble, oh implacable pop that carries on with your reverberating noises, in the mind, into the next period of existence, the future light-cone of prose opening from that concentric point onto the rest of the universe, the narrow impact coming on the next line, and new impacts in the future become possible as the cone widens, each letter or word blossoming into a fresh cone, the page sprouting trumpets, and the rings of influence spreading into tomorrow.