Variable Directions Quotes

“I am as yet
a storm of zero force.
Almost a breath.”
― Dan Pagis, Variable Directions: Selected Poetry

“Where to begin?
I don’t even know how to ask.
Too many tongues are mixed in my mouth. But

at the crossing of these winds,
very diligent, I immerse myself
in the laws of heavenly grammar: I am learning
the declensions and ascensions of
silence.
...
If it has been ordained that I pull out of here,
I’ll try to descend rung by rung,
I hold onto each one, carefully –
but there is no end to the ladder, and already
no time. All I can still do is fall into the world”
― Dan Pagis, Variable Directions: Selected Poetry