Scott Simpson · Poetry
I. Passing It Along
The World We Mean · Culture, Memory, and Shared Meaning · Singing · I. Passing It Along
All poetryThe original line breaks, stanza spacing, and placement are preserved. Long lines scroll horizontally.
Poem segment 1
I. Passing It Along
Meaning does not stay put.
A woman tells a story
at a kitchen table in winter.
Years later
her grandson repeats it badly
at a bar two states away.
Details missing.
Names changed.
The ending softened
to make the room laugh.
Still—
something survives the transfer.
A rhythm.
A warning.
The shape of a loneliness
carried forward in language.
This is how culture moves.
Not preserved under glass
like a pinned butterfly,
but handed from mouth to mouth,
changing slightly
with each set of hands.
A song sung slower
after a funeral.
A prayer shortened
by exhaustion.
Nothing remains untouched.
That is not failure.
That is how meaning
continues breathing.
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