Therefore Wherefore Should One Use The Question Mark
in meaning shape & sound to any casual reader
what was it that made everything all ugly for them
w/out even mentioning Joyce’s Ulysses or Eliot’s
The Waste Land / could not the same thing be said
truthfully of Shakespeare’s sonnets / dear Gertrude
do you do airplanes / what is the current that makes
machinery / may i do a little caressing myself & say
truthfully / a Collection is a Collection is a Collection (am i
quoting right) / is there a resemblance to the sky which is
admitted to be there & the stars which can be seen / why
is it orange & the surface outrageous / why is it beautiful
why is it not when there is no doubt / what choice is there
when there is a difference / why is there a difference b/w
one window & another / what is the wind what was the use
of not leaving it there where it would hang / is there a re
semblance to the sky which is admitted to be there & the stars
which can be seen / why is anything vacant was it really in him
to learn what was really loving / had all the feeling learned to be
/ why is there so much useless suffering / what’s the news what
are you going to do w/ it / shall i do you now / here / or should
we not among strangers / should it be so & there be sin / did
that mean shame / why is there rain / is hair curly is it dark
or dusky / is there a resemblance to the sky which is an ad /
why is there a single piece of any colour / should all this
resemble a smell / why is there no obligation to stay away
why don’t you when you come here stay a little longer
make a nice jelly / what is the use of a violent kind of
delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting
tired of it / don’t you want to go lie down & sleep
are you right / is it all right or is it eight o’clock yet
why is there resistance in a mixture / was the butter
gathered in the butter is the harvest all in / what is cut
why is there that scissor / what is a tongue & pepper
& fish & is there a resemblance to the sky which is
admitted to be there & the stars when tears
many tears are
Toby Fitch is poetry editor of Overland. His books include Rawshock, which won the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry 2012, Jerilderies and, most recently, The Bloomin’ Notions of Other & Beau (Vagabond 2016). He lives in Sydney with his girlfriend and two daughters while also working as an editor, researcher, a teacher of creative writing, & etc.