On "Counting" by Alistair Reid

            I picked to write about the piece, “Counting” by Alistair Reid largely because I have, like so many others, been a fan of “Curiosity” and have been working quotes of his into casual conversation for years.  When the poem popped up on my screen, the first thing that I noticed was the three column format, each lined up across from the other and extending down ten lines.  Three columns, ten lines.  Counting.

            The first column from the left, when read all the way down, reads, “Ounce/ Dice/ Trice/ Quartz/ Quince/ Sago/ Serpent/ Oxygen/ Nitrogen/ Denim”  I don’t know how many of you speak German, I don’t, save for the numbers one through ten.  These lines, especially when spoken bear a striking resemblance to the sounds of the German numbers, to me at least.  I don’t speak many other languages, and I wondered of there were more similarities to the sounds and feeling of these words to the words assigned to numbers in other languages. 

            Having this similarity in mind, I went to column two; “Instant/ Distant/ Tryst, Catalyst/ Quest/ Sycamore/ Sophomore/ Oculist/ Novelist/ Dentist” and column three, “Archery/ Butchery/ Treachery/ Taproom/ Tomb/ Sermon/ Cinnamon/ Apron/ Nunnery/ Density”  After a cursory googling to find out what languages these words might be meant to resemble and coming up empty, I realized that what language didn’t matter to the meaning of the piece. 

            I got to thinking about words.  A professor, for those of you who have had him, you will know; keeps saying in a class of mine that all words are metaphors.  All languages assign a different combination of letters that forms a word that means something to the people who speak that language.  Does a dog change if it is called a perro?  Words only have the power that we give them.

            I really want to take that away with me into my work.  Reid uses different sounds and words and with the title he implies that the speaker is counting.  One to ten.  Three columns.  Counting.  Is he asking us as readers to examine why we associate words with meanings?  Maybe we should assess the power given to arbitrary groupings, words, of arbitrary shapes, letters? 

            I don’t think that a so-called traditional form would have had the impact that the three column format has with this poem.  If the intent of the author is indeed to playful question the meanings and forms of words, the non-traditional style complements those aims.  If Reid wants us to be curious (!) which I think he does, exploratory style puts the reader in that frame of mind.  We want to know what is going on in this poem.  Why is it weird? 

Face it. Curiosity

will not cause us to die--

only lack of it will.

Never to want to see

the other side of the hill

or that improbable country

where living is an idyll

(although a probable hell)

would kill us all.

Only the curious have, if they live, a tale

worth telling at all.

-A. Reid