Excuse me. I'm sorry,

I don't want to disturb anyone.

Forget about me for a moment.

I want to make way for more essential things.

It happens, for instance,

that I have always been impressed by shoes:

like olives they are so vain,

and as arrogant as a pharmacy;

and even though I don't really agree

sometimes it seems to me

they are the only things of value strolling down the street.

They have as much personality as a furniture store;

they go so many places,

ignoring too many things along the way;

it terrifies me not to know what they are thinking.

Their lives are so interesting!

Some other day

when I have more paper

I will reappear on another page

and speak to you

about the theory of the shoelaces.

Thank you very much.

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Letelier, Elias. Silence. Trans. Ken Norris. Montréal: The Muses Co., 1992.

ISBN 0919754-41-6  &  ISBN 0919754-41-4  < http://www.letelier.org >