credo

‘not waving but drowning’

   – Stevie Smith

not words but writing

not writing but drawing

not drawing but painting

not painting but breathing

not breathing but thinking

not thinking but dreaming

not dreaming but sleeping

not sleeping but listening

not listening but hearing

not hearing but feeling

not feeling but hurting

not hurting but resting

not resting but changing

not changing but remembering

not remembering but hoping

not hoping but knowing

not knowing but believing

not believing but living

not living but living

Alec Finlay (ed)

not shoes but steps

not steps but snow

not snow but salt

not salt but crystal

not crystal but liquid

not liquid but air

not air but wind

not wind but kites

not kites but stones

not stones but splashes

not splashes but rings

not rings but stars

not stars but diodes

not diodes

Alec Finlay & Pravdo Ivanov

not launched but rigged

not rigged but garlanded

not garland but ribbon

not ribbon but sugarwrack

not sugarwrack but saltlick

not saltlick but sillock

not sillock but lithe

not lithe

Jen Hadfield & Alec Finlay

not me but you

not you but hmmm

not hmmm but uh-hu

not uh-hu but ha-ha

not ha-ha but but

not but but not

not not

Alec Finlay & Zuzana Hruskova

not known but unknown

not unknown but known knowns

not known knowns but unknown knowns

not unknown knowns but knowns we know

not knowns we know but knowns we know that we know

not knowns we know that we know but unknowns

not unknowns but knowns

not knowns

Alec Finlay & Donald Rumsfeld

This form can be played by two people, or a group, as a game; declaring a winner is a matter of tact.

Some of these poems were first published in 2HB, published by CCA (Glasgow).