Of Fly and Butterfly: A Poessay

"For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." Legend has it that minimalist Ernst Hemingway wrote it, when challenged to write a novel in six words.

Communication to be effective should convey an idea - effectively.

"Can I have a glass of water, please?" 9
"Can I have a glass of water?" 8
"Can I have a glass?" 5
"Can I have some water?" 5
"Can I have water?" 4
"Water, please." 2

And a gesture with hand, thumbs risen and moving towards the mouth can also convey a request for a glass of water.

From using nine words to none there are several options to convey a thought and all are effective in some measure.

The idea of saying less with more intrigues me. At the end of a long day, where on a board dealing with folks who exploit vested interests, readers were posting and riposting without abandon I tried my hand at summarising and compared the posters thoughts as fly and butterfly.

These thoughts churned and whirled on in the subconscious.

***

fly and butterfly i

fly butterfly
stray cats domesticated cat
feral dogs pet dogs
crows eagles
manhatton amazon
despot leader
barrel shots
death safety
killer butcher
absen(s)ce sense
courtesan wife
fly butterfly

***

monologue

arey bhai what do you hope to achieve with this skeletal display...add some muscles and some fat...the raw poverty of bones is too garish and needs focussed concentration for germination...life is short and people have to do a lot with their life...make it a little less complex...you mean i should compromise? no, just a little less vague...you mean i am vague?...well, let me try this...if you rewrite perhaps more people would read...and not understand?...thank you, you are no help!

***

fly and butterfly ii

fleeing, fleeting prisoner of passion, association
stray cats scavenging, persian cats purring
feral dogs barking, chihuahua snuggling
crows croaking over cretin's chicanery
gliding eagles surveying warily
amazon succumbing to manhattan's denseness
steady erosion of land (and human) marks
marked by demented despots and hunter-butchers
barrel's mouth spewing forth flaming venom
invoking different gods of sense and absen(s)ce
wife and courtesan, regurgitating words