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Thank you to my precious, patient readers who spend a moment of their invaluable time to look my way here on EthidalDative. I can only strive to repay the compliment.

And although I try not to encumber you with irreflexive boosterism, I can’t stifle an endorsement of Patricia Barber’s singing and musicianship. I listen to music for much of my day — I don’t always *hear* it as I’m doing other things, but it it strikes the right note I do. Barber has a dusky, lower-pitched voice, like Diana Krall, and her renditions are unfailingly, often startingly, arresting, lyrical, head-turning. I never tire of hearing her, and I tire easily of certain music. I cite her lyrics to the song “I Could Eat Your Words” below. It’s from her album entitled “Verse.” The song presses all kinds of buttons on a linguist.

“I Could Eat Your Words” (lyric by Patricia Barber)

philosophy engenders a Rational man

Descartes would be the first to agree

syllogistically speaking if ‘A’ is you

and ‘B’ is me

logical proposition will lead us to’C’

Aristotle conditioned the Greeks to indulge

the brain and the body agree

psychologically speaking if the student can teach,

the teacher can learn,

lets leave the thinking to me

simplicity can charm the intellectual beast

a three-word phrase will suffice

hedonistically speaking if ‘food is for thought’

then ‘thought is or food,’ and

teacher, “I want you” tonight

i could eat your words

suck the salt from your ‘erudition’

light a fire under ‘inhibition’

season ‘reason’ with a transitive verb

i could eat your mind

sweeten ‘no’ with ‘equivocation’

blend your phrases with ‘provocation’

sip the spit from your bittersweet rhyme

poets need a holiday

professors need adulation

you can talk and talk

the right away

and make no case for ‘moderation’

i’ll drink ‘remorse’ like a cabernet

champagne with ‘indecision’

‘guilt’ like garlic

needs to sauté with cream, butter

and wine

I could eat your words

melt ‘objection’ with ‘stimulation’

simmer ‘truth’ with ‘prevarication’

taste your ‘virtue’ and ‘honor’ and ‘time’

baby teach me tonight

Copyright (c) 2018 James Mansfield Nichols. All rights reserved.