EXCERPT

...inside the Platonic Cave to outside it, or at least out of the first level, one cave embedded inside another cave eternally, and then in addition to that there is the literal enlightenment, the progression from dark Romanesque churches to rose-windowed Gothics to literal electricity inside buildings and homes, and I’m sure this connection has been made elsewhere a thousand times. (Who said, who said, I thought I had ideas once; they were all on loan?)

And the wind came over the hills, and all was quiet as it muffled out the sounds of villagers inspecting goods at market, and the marketeers waxing poetic on the virtues of the goods, and the hagglers trying to maximize expected utility of goods.

And a voice came over the hills, and echoed in the valley and in between the stalls, “Who said, who said… who said, who said…” And the villagers answered in an attempt at unison, “I said, I said!” And I said, I said,

Divide the word “meaning” onto a simple grid with an X-axis of subjective-objective and a Y-axis of elusive-discoverable and then in counter-clockwise from upper-right quadrant, call it “formalist textual meaning,” “reader-response (experimental),” “reader-response (implied),” and finally “classical interpretive” and just call the whole thing off, can we please move on.

And I said, In order of least to longest reach, tongue-shot, touch-shot, nose-shot, ear-shot, eye-shot.

And I said, In order of Dark Ages, Medieval Era (“middle ages”), Enlightenment, you’ve got a progression from

And I said,

And then there was silence.