I’m not the middle of almost anything. The first girl cousin on my mother’s side. The eldest child. “Middle’ is not a word I think about much. So the NaPoWriMo prompt for day 15 was an interesting experiment. I had to think about middles, and what immediately came to mind was a logic class I failed twice, many many years ago. Because of the law of the excluded middle.
Here’s the NaPoWriMo:
I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that reflects on the nature of being in the middle of something. The poem could be about being on a journey and stopping for a break, or the gap between something half-done and all-done. Half a loaf is supposedly better than none, but what’s the difference between half of a very large loaf and all of a very small one? Let your mind wander into the middle distance, betwixt the beginning of things and the end.
Here’s the poem:
The law of the excluded middle
Dr. Brown bless his heart said I was wrong
So wrong I might be crazy:
The last person who said that ended up
In an institution, Miss Britton!
But he was wrong.
Even if the third law of thought
Is on his side ~ a thing cannot be
Both true and false. One or the other
Must be the case. Something can not be
And not be ~
My southeast asian childhood
Tells me differently.
To be and not to be:
That is no question, but a state
Of being/not being.
Like the mind, illusory and yet…
Like the breath, both in and out
Like the middle:
Excluded even in its bridging state.
Like love, which is at least one part
Its darker neighbour.
Tea and Breath 